


Thicker Than Blood

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 495 Marvel Universe [4]
Category: Avengers (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Barton Boys, De-Aged, Gen, the X-Men are one big family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-06-12 04:10:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15331425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: Clint and Barney Barton love their new family, especially because their family includes the X-Men AND the Avengers! But growing up as two circus kids with no powers in the middle of all of those heroes is harder than it looks.





	1. Who Needs Powers?

 

* * *

The last few days that Barney was in Westchester, he and Clint made it a point to play  _hard_. They worked together to finish up Barney's homework assignments so that he was all squared away long before he needed to be packed, and that meant they could steal away to the lake, even if the water was still pretty cold in the spring.

It was all in good fun until they started to play tag, and a misplaced step later, Clint had gone down, and his ankle buckled underneath him.

Barney froze when he heard Clint cry out, and for just a second, the blood drained from his face. He didn't say anything — for Clint's sake — but he still couldn't help but panic when he thought his brother was in trouble, and that sort of scream had Barney right back to a few months ago, hiding in the tree and hoping  _hard_ that his brother wasn't  _dead_  when Sabretooth had grabbed him.

So he was honestly panicked until he got to where Clint was and could see for himself that Clint was fine, except for the fact that he couldn't put any weight on his foot. "Okay, okay," Barney said, biting his lip. "Okay, you just ... stay right there and I'll find help."

"I just slipped, Barn," Clint said. "I ain't  _broke_."

"Yeah, well, you want me to carry you?"

"I just need help with the one foot."

Barney nodded at that and helped Clint up, putting Clint's arm around his shoulders as they hobbled like a three-legged race back to the lawn — though Arrow had run ahead of them and had started tugging on Logan's jeans with his teeth to get his attention. The dog already had an excellent sense of who he needed to get when Clint was in trouble.

Logan didn't argue with the way the pup was tugging at him and instead followed along, though when he caught up to where Barney and Clint were, he swore under his breath and rushed the last bit to the two of them. He didn't even  _ask_ what happened before he scooped Clint up and started back toward the house, with Barney on his heels.

"We were just playing and he fell," Barney panted as he tried to keep up with Logan's longer strides — the Barton boys were still a little bit short.

"That happens," Logan said, shaking his head to himself.

"I'm fine," Clint muttered. "I'm not  _broke_ or nothin'."

"Yeah, well you can't stand on it too good, so I'm gonna wait to see what Hank says about that, eh?" Logan said.

"I hate going to the doctor," Clint muttered, falling into an honest pout. "Even if it's Hank."

"Me too," Logan agreed. "But if he gives you any trouble, I'll knock him out."

"Can I help?" Barney asked.

"Sure," he replied. "Just grab the elevator — kick anyone out that's in your way."

Barney snickered at that but rushed ahead to get the elevator, sticking close to Logan and Clint all the way down to Hank's lab, where Hank rushed over when he saw the state of affairs. "What have we here?"

"I fell," Clint said, and it was clear to see that he was more than a little embarrassed by the attention — and his own clumsiness.

"Well, that's an easy enough thing to address," Hank told him gently, directing Logan on where he could set Clint down to get him set up so they could take a look at his ankle.

When Clint tried to sit up, Logan put his hand in the center of his chest to keep him down. "Wait. Everyone knows you don't want to be in the med bay. Make it go by quicker by just relaxing a little bit."

Clint let out a little noise, but he stayed where he was, if for no other reason than that he knew Logan was right and that Hank wasn't going to let him out until he could prove he could walk out on his own. Which he knew he couldn't do without help. So that was also a small problem for his escape plans.

Hank was, as always, gentle with Clint — and his worried, hovering brother — as he looked him over, though Clint was relieved to hear it when Hank assured him, "Nothing's broken. But you have a serious sprain."

"Toldja I wasn't broke," Clint sang out to Logan and Barney.

"Okay, so you were right this one time," Barney said, shaking his head at Clint. "But it sounds like it's still bad…"

"You definitely shouldn't walk on it," Hank said with a nod.

Clint tipped his head back and let out a long, loud groan — not exactly thrilled to be  _stuck_. But when Hank reassured him that he could wrap him up and help his ankle heal faster, Clint relaxed a bit.

"You know your mom's gonna spoil you rotten, right?" Logan said quietly to Clint. "An' that ain't even takin' Jeannie and 'Ro into account."

"Miss Jean's gonna hear I'm not supposed to walk and think that means I should fly everywhere," Clint said with a crooked grin. "Which I think is exactly right."

"You look so broke up over it," Logan said.

"Storm can make you fly too, though," Barney put in helpfully. "She showed me how she can use the winds and stuff and I could see clear past the forest!"

"Oooh, yeah," Clint said, starting to get excited with his brother. "She says you can walk on the  _wind_!"

"That's our goddess," Hank said with a little smile.

It didn't take much time at all for Hank to get Clint all set up, and then he patted Clint gently on the shoulder. "Now, as long as you stay off of that foot, you should be right as rain in no time at all," he said.

"If we tell Mom you're supposed to be staying inside, she'll let us watch movies," Barney said.

"Yeah, but I wanted to play with you before you go back," Clint pouted.

"Ah, that reminds me," Hank said as he came over to put a hand on Barney's shoulder. "I wonder if I could borrow you, Mr. Barton."

Barney raised both eyebrows but nodded, climbing up to sit for Hank. "What, did I catch the sprained ankle?" he joked.

"Yeah, I'm contagious!" Clint giggled.

"No, I simply wanted to do a little physical to set a baseline for you, since you will be returning regularly to our humble abode," Hank said. "And it wouldn't hurt to know if you should be prepared in the event of a manifestation of mutant ability."

Both Clint and Barney glanced at each other at that, suddenly looking more excited. "Do you think I'm a mutant?" Barney asked, in awe.

"The only way to know before a manifestation would be through a very simple and painless blood test."

"Me too!" Clint sang out, wide-eyed. "I wanna know if I'm gonna shoot fire out of my eyeballs or something!"

"You wanna be  _Scott?_ " Barney said, wrinkling his nose.

"No, I wanna shoot  _fire_!" Clint said. "That would be  _way_ cooler!"

"I wanna have powers like Mom," Barney said. "Then can't nobody hurt me!"

Hank couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm, though he did try to temper it — especially knowing that Clint didn't carry the gene. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said. "I think even if neither of you have any powers to speak of, you can give any ruffian a run for their money."

"They've proved that already," Logan said. "And it really doesn't matter, does it?"

"No, of course not," Hank said. "It's simply a matter of curiosity."

"Yeah, well, you know what they say about curiosity," Logan muttered.

"And you  _do_ look like a cat," Clint told Hank with a crooked grin.

"So you better watch your litter box, Blue," Logan said just a hair louder, which just had the Barton boys giggling to themselves.

Hank shook his head at the three of them, but the boys were now completely invested in the idea, so he got both of them set up with the basic tests and explained to them what they were looking for — a line that would show up if there was a positive match.

Both of the boys were almost unconsciously leaning forward with wide eyes as they watched the tests, though when nothing happened…

"So… no powers, huh?" Barney said, glancing up at Hank. "Well that's just about typical."

Clint nodded his agreement for a moment and then stood up a little straighter. "We don't need 'em," he said, his chin tipped up. "We never had no help before, and we don't need no help now."

"Of course not," Hank said, his eyes twinkling. "Heaven help anyone who stands in the way of the Barton brothers."

Clint and Barney shared a look and then grinned at each other. "Yep," Clint said. "Sounds about right."

"So, we should go tell Mom that you need popcorn and movies," Barney said. "And we can play some games and stuff. I don't mind if we just stay in and play Yahtzee or something."

"You just picked that game 'cause it's all about luck and you don't gotta be any good at it to win," Clint teased.

"Well, you're hurt, so it wouldn't be real nice of me to kick your butt while you're a  _hopalong_ ," Barney shot back.

Clint looked like he was going to pounce on Barney but for the hand that Hank had on his shoulder to keep him from doing just that, so he stuck his tongue out at his big brother with a little 'nyah' — and Barney pulled a face at him, too.

When they got up to K, she was just unpacking a box that had come in earlier that day and assembling something that looked suspiciously like targets. "Three handsome guys … how lucky am I?" she said, barely looking up at them at first, but she did a quick double-take when she saw how Clint was being supported by Logan. "What happened?"

"I had a fight with the Red Skull. I killed 'im, but he broke my foot," Clint said without missing a beat.

"That monster," she said, shaking her head slowly.

"He fell down while we were playing tag," Barney whispered to K, covering his mouth with one hand so Clint couldn't read his lips, though Clint knew what was happening and stuck his tongue out at him all the same.

"That's what he said," K whispered back.

"Only if you're a mom," Barney said.

"Lucky you then," she shot right back.

"So, I'm not s'pposed to be on my foot," Clint told K. "So we were thinking maybe some popcorn and Indiana Jones?"

"But you were having so much fun outside," she replied, frowning, before she shook her head at them both. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather do some horseback riding?"

The boys glanced at each other at that. "Can we?" Clint asked.

"Took me a while, but they're safe enough now," K said. "Six of them anyhow — but we can keep it to just us for now."

"I'm gonna need some help getting on," Clint warned her.

"I'm sure we can figure something out," K replied, nodding, before she held up the targets. "And if I do my work right, then by the time you get back, Barney, they'll be safe to shoot off of too."

"We can  _shoot on horseback?_ " Clint looked like he was going to die of happiness right there. "When can we do that? I wanna do that, like,  _right now!_ "

"Me too!" Barney said quickly. "I wanna learn to do that!"

"I have to get the horses used to it, but yeah, we can start riding first," K said. "And if you get too saddle sore and want to watch — you can see how I get the horses used to it."

"That sounds awesome," Barney said. "And by the time the circus season is over, you'll be real good at it and the horses'll be used to it and I can catch up, right?"

"Oh yeah," K said. "You'll be caught up in no time."

Barney grinned at that. "Good. If I didn't like the circus so much, I'd be here  _all_ the time so I could learn stuff, you know."

"Well then I guess I'll have to teach a few horses the circus tricks so you can be impressive at everything under the big top," K said.

"You mean it?" Barney asked, his eyes even wider than before.

"Honey, I can trick ride with the best of them. It won't be an issue."

"When I met her, she was talking about the horses at the circus where I was gonna run away to and explaining how they do stuff," Clint put in. "She's real good."

"You've only seen the rodeo stuff," K said, resting a hand on Clint's head. "I'll have a pair of them jumping over flaming crossbars and riding roman style."

"Oooh, I wanna do that too!" Barney said. "Can I  _please_?"

"As long as I can find two that are matched well, I don't see why not."

"I wanna learn how to shoot a bow and arrow on a horse so I can be like Robin Hood," Clint said. "Or like — or like an Indian like in that book Storm got me!"

"Then you'll have to learn how to do it in tights," K said, not missing a beat. "Or suede pants if it's an Indian."

"I dunno what those are, but I bet I could do it," Clint said.

"Well, Kitty can let you borrow some tights," K teased.

"No, now I wanna try the suede pants," Clint said. "I can be like… Magua. Or Hawkeye!"

"That … fits," Logan said, frowning.

"It's from Storm's book," Clint explained. "I really liked it, and I didn't think I would, but I did!"

"Leave it to 'Ro to pick a winner," Logan said.

"It's better'n 'duck fluff' if you're gonna have a warrior name," Barney teased, getting Clint to shove him in the shoulder.

"That's  _Mom's_ name, not for anybody else!"

"You could totally rock 'Duck Fluff' in battle," K argued. "They'd never see it coming when you took. them. down."

"No, Mom," Clint said, rolling his eyes. "I know you like it, but I ain't using 'Duck Fluff'."

"Well, you can't use 'Trickshot', because that's what I'm using in the circus," Barney said with his chin tipped up.

"I guess I can't be Indiana Jones, neither…" Clint said with a sigh. "It's already taken."

"I think Logan's right, though," Barney said. "I think 'Hawkeye' is pretty cool. And it's still a bird — just not a duck."

"And it fits for as sharp as you are at spotting things," Logan agreed. "And … Iowa, right?"

"Yep!" Clint said with a grin. "Ever since I was born!"

"He means like the football games," Barney said, elbowing his brother.

"Oh, yeah. That too," Clint said, nodding quickly.

Barney rolled his eyes but decided not to call his brother out on not getting it, instead gesturing toward the hall that would lead down to the Danger Room if they took it. "So, you gonna join the X-Men now? Be a superhero? The youngest ever?"

"Well, I  _could_."

"Jan still wants him for the Avengers," K pointed out.

"I can do both!" Clint insisted. "That's what Logan does!"

"You can, and you should," K agreed.

Barney grinned and nodded. "That's my little brother. Can't just do one thing at a time."

"Says the weapons master in training," K replied.

"Who's learning to be a ringmaster and also ride horses…" Clint put in helpfully.

"Yep. A pinnacle of 'one thing at a time'."

Barney grinned over at Clint. "Yeah, well, Beast says no one can stop us Barton brothers," he said, drawing himself up.

"Is that a dare?" K asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Whatchugonnado?" Barney shot back.

She grinned at him. "Wanna fight?"

"You're on," Barney said with a grin — simply breaking into a laugh as he rushed her in an attempted tackle. He knew he wasn't going to win, since she was the one who'd taught him the basics, but he wasn't expecting her to not only not fall over but instead grab him up and downright  _snuggle_ him.

And that of course just had Clint bursting into laughter. "Snuggle fight!" he declared — hopping over to join the snuggle with K and Barney too and giggling the whole time.


	2. Clint v. the Big, Scary, Badly-Dressed Supervillain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magneto comes to call, and Clint doesn't hold back on what he thinks of that guy.

 

* * *

Clint had thought that after Barney left for the circus again, he'd be totally bored. He didn't know why he thought that, seeing as he and his mom were living with a bunch of heroes, but he did.

But only a few weeks after Barney left, it seemed like the whole group of X-Men was preparing for… something.

There had been a serious uptick in the anxiety levels around the house, and Clint had definitely noticed. So when he was working with Storm, he had to ask, "Is something going on that I don't know about? Are the bad guys coming back?"

"The professor's oldest friend is coming to call," Storm replied with a reassuring smile. "They don't always see eye to eye, and many in our staff simply do not trust the man."

"Okay," Clint said, though it was clear he was working it out for himself. He shook his head the more he thought about it. "That sounds dumb. If you don't like him, you should just not invite him."

"Charles is well aware of how we all feel," she assured him. "And he still believes it's important to keep those lines of communication open."

Clint leaned forward. "Charles is weird."

She smiled warmly and nodded to herself as she tried to reroute him back to his lesson, though now that Clint knew what was going on, he was watching even closer than before as everyone seemed to be battening down the hatches for something terrible to happen — until an older man in a cape finally showed up.

Clint was in the living room playing with Arrow when he saw the man walk in, and he sat up quickly and ran to the door in the hallway to stick his head out. The tall man was talking to Scott, who had his arms crossed, but they were both turned so Clint couldn't read their lips.

But once they headed down the hall, Clint stepped out to look up at the guy and make sure these ridiculous people he was living with knew how it was done — because they were being so uptight about the whole thing.

"You don't look impressive at all," Clint said, his arms crossed as he looked up at the tall man as much as he could. "I mean, I like the color… but why do you need a cape like you're Dracula?"

Erik stopped and frowned down at the boy. "Aren't you a little  _young_ to be in this school?"

"Aren't you a little old?" Clint shot back.

Erik smirked to himself. "I suppose I am," he replied in a velvety tone. "But I'm not here to learn." He shook his head at Clint's reactions and simply headed down the hall again to meet up with Charles.

Clint kept his hands on his hips all the way up until the door closed and then turned to face the X-Men, who were all in varying stages of amusement and shock. "You guys're a bunch of scaredy-cats. He's, like, the crypt keeper and dresses like he's blind."

Logan burst out laughing at that, not even trying to hide it, with Kurt not far behind him.

"He's not wrong," K agreed, though she was amused just by watching Logan and Kurt as they fell apart. "But how do you  _really_ feel about it, Clint?"

Clint grinned her way, clearly pleased with himself for getting such a solid laugh out of everybody, especially Logan. "Well, you're all acting like it's the end times, and I bet my mom could lay him out flat just by herself — not to mention Jean or  _Storm_."

"Yep, he'd be screwed if he pissed off the girls," Logan agreed.

Clint grinned over at Logan and then shrugged easily. "That's because they're them," he said perfectly matter-of-factly, before he went back into the living room to play with Arrow.

"Tell me, did you find him like this or was it learned?" Kurt managed to ask K as he wiped the fur beneath his eyes from laughing so hard.

K smiled his way. "I guess it'll have to be a mystery," she said. "I'm not telling either way."

"Spoilsport," Kurt chuckled.

"You're always pushing for people's secrets," she said before she gave his shoulder a little shove and got to her feet to join Clint and Arrow. "Gossip."

" _Lächerlich_ ," Kurt said with a grin. "I'm a paragon of virtue and self-restraint."

She just started laughing, though she wasn't alone; Logan was chuckling along with her. "Sure you are, Elf."

Kurt shook his head at the pair of them, though the mood stayed much higher than was usual for Erik's visits between the group of them as they joked around a little more, the tension seemingly broken by all the laughter.

Eventually, though, the chess game in the interior of the school came to an end, and Erik made his way back toward where the group of them were gathered, seemingly to sate his curiosity on the two newcomers since the last time he was there.

He paused in the living room, where Clint had curled up with Arrow to watch a show after they had both worn themselves out playing and K was watching both of them. It wasn't terribly difficult for Erik to guess what at least one of their powers were when he felt the slight magnetic pull of an incredibly rare metal in the room — with Logan in the room across the hall.

Before he could say anything to K, though, Clint had popped his head up and narrowed his eyes at Erik. "You shouldn't stare at my mom like that or I'll have to hit you, and I'm too tired to do that, so I'll be grumpy about it and not nice at all."

K laid her hand on his shoulder and gave him a little squeeze. "It's alright, sweetheart. Some people never did learn basic manners." She turned Erik's way. "Can I  _help_ you, Mr ...?"

"Erik will do," he said as he stepped into the room far enough to introduce himself better. "And perhaps you can, Ms….?"

"Miss is fine."

"I see," Erik said. "And how is it that you came to join Charles' school?"

"By the usual means, as I understand it," K replied. "There was an open position. How is it that you're not part of the school as well? Seeing as you're such close friends."

Erik tipped his head slightly. "Charles and I disagree on the best way to approach the advancement of mutantkind," he explained.

She nodded her head and tipped her chin up. "And you're  _both_ under the delusion that you have any control over that?"

Erik's frown deepened at that. "If you believe that 'peaceful coexistence' is a delusion, why stay?"

"That's not what I said," she replied with a smile. "I said you're delusional to think that you can control how mutantkind advances. In any direction."

Erik was starting to settle into something deeper than a frown before he let out a breath. "Then I assume you also adhere to the ridiculous notion of allowing that advance to come alongside humanity as it seeks to  _destroy_ us."

She settled her chin into the palm of her hand and watched him as if she was studying something highly interesting. "Well. Isn't someone a little threatened?"

Erik smirked lightly. "No, simply seeking to end the threats before they grow."

"So then you think all humans are all the same?" she said, tipping her head to the side. "That's an awfully broad brush."

"Tell me, then," Erik said evenly, "how it is that you got your adamantium."

She kept her even smile. "Obviously, someone wanted me for my body. How about you? Similar experience?"

"I wouldn't characterize it quite the way you do," Erik said, shaking his head at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I guess I don't see the point in punishing an entire race for what a handful of evil assholes did. They paid. Time to move on."

Erik paused for a moment as he considered her before he seemed to back off, for the moment, and inclined his head toward Clint. "And you came here with… your son, as I understand it."

"That's right," she said, holding his gaze unblinkingly.

"Does he share your gifts, then? Or is it too soon to tell?" Erik asked — and he was, in fact, genuinely interested.

"I think that's an awfully personal question to ask of a boy his age. All things considered."

"This is a school to learn to use those gifts," Erik pointed out.

"Funny, it was pitched to us as a safe haven," K replied.

"I can see how that would appeal to you."

"The view ain't half bad most days either," she said. "Not so much today."

"Too tall," Clint drawled out with an impish smile. "Throw 'im back."

Erik tried for a tight smile Clint's way, though for as annoyed as he was with K, he couldn't help his curiosity, either. "It's just so rare for Charles to find a young mind to shape before their gifts manifest themselves."

"The man likes kids," K said. "Too bad he doesn't have his own running around."

Erik ignored the commentary for the moment and simply focused his attention on Clint. "It's simply fascinating," he said. "The possibilities before we know what our gifts are… what were his father's?" he mused, seemingly to both of them.

"He was really good at getting drunk and killing himself," Clint said without missing a beat.

Erik's eyebrows shot up for a moment, and it was clear he hadn't expected the frank answer out of the boy either. Though he also couldn't help but say, "Then his gifts were nothing like your mother's."

Clint watched Erik for a long moment. "You don't want me," he said at last, surprising Erik with his frank tone.

"What makes you say that?"

"You just told my mom you don't want humans, so … you don't want me," Clint said with a perfectly open shrug. "So you can stop pretending to care now and go away. Nobody wants you here anyway."

There was only a moment of surprise in Erik's expression before it shifted entirely into a sneer. "I see," he said, turning entirely away from Clint in a clearly dismissive move.

"Alright, you can just stuff your ugly face back where you found it. You have no business looking like that to any kid, you hypocritical sack of crap," K said, totally losing her easygoing and quasi-friendly tone. "You've made it abundantly clear that the only thing you care about are what kind of mutant abilities everyone has - and the only reason you're so fixated on it, and can't see anything but the abilities, is that you're absolutely  _nothing_ without yours." She gave him a sneer of her own. "That's why you're so afraid of humans. They don't  _need_ your precious little gifts."

At that, Erik's expression shifted once more to pure disdain as he flicked his hand and tossed K aside to move back to the hall, though that just had Clint flat out mad as he darted forward and grabbed two handfuls of Erik's cape to yank him backwards. Clint was already reaching for his pocket knife in his back pocket before Jean picked him up to move him away from Erik and Scott stepped between them with a pointed look.

"I think it's past time for you to go."

Erik sneered for a moment, though in the other room, there was a muted  _bamf_ as Logan and Kurt arrived — and another as they left with K and Clint.

"Hey," Logan said once they were well away from the action, putting a hand on each of Clint's shoulders so he could look at him squarely. "Forget that idiot and stick with your mom, huh?"

"But I can strangle him with his own stupid cape and he wouldn't even be able to stop me," Clint insisted angrily.

"As poetic as that is, it would need to happen well away from any metals," Kurt told him.

"He  _tossed my mom_ ," Clint said.

"Yes, and he could have taken your knife with a wave," Kurt told him. "The man has killed over less."

Clint looked between Kurt and Logan with a determined sort of glare before he let out his breath. "Fine," he said. "No metal. But that still leaves strangling — and his cape is  _plenty_ stupid enough to do it too."

"Nobody'd argue that," Logan promised.

"Good." Clint crossed his arms. "He tossed my mom. Because she was right and he didn't like it."

"He doesn't like it much when other people are right," Logan said. "Especially people with your mom's abilities. It bugs him."

"Well that's stupid. He either likes mutants or he doesn't."

"He likes mutants that aren't ferals," Logan said with a smirk.

"That's stupid," Clint insisted. "You guys get cool powers. And if he likes powers so much, he shouldn't be stupid about cool ones unless he's just  _jealous_." He paused. "That's gotta be it."

Logan couldn't help but smirk at him. "Might be," he said, shaking his head.

"Next time he comes over, I'm gonna leave my pocket knife, and he's gonna end up eating teeth."

Logan and Kurt shared a look before Kurt handed Clint a blanket to cover K up with. "And he'll sorely regret what he's done."

"Yeah, he shouldn't've touched my mom," Clint said with a little glint to his gaze.

"No, he shouldn't," Kurt agreed.

Clint nodded and sat himself down next to K, making sure to grin at her and give her a little hug when she woke up again. She returned the hug, of course, but when she saw Charles come to check on the group, she had to call him out. "What are you thinking?"

Charles frowned as he made his way into the room. "I'm not sure I follow you."

"You brought a  _supervillain_ into a house full of kids!" K said. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Erik is an old friend—"

"Then foster that friendship  _away_ from your students," K insisted hotly. "Do that self-destructive crap somewhere else."

"I hope to change his mind," Charles started to explain.

"You don't have to do it here," K said. "Think about your students. You told us that this place is supposed to be a safe haven, so it's on you to live up to that."

Charles frowned her way, though it was Scott who spoke up: "I feel better having it here," he said. "So we can keep an eye on him."

"Then go with him," K said. "But don't put your kids at risk." She gave Scott a  _look_. "You can't tell me you're comfortable with a supervillain being in the same house as your daughter."

It was obvious that K had found the right button to push when Scott straightened up slightly. "No," he had to admit. "That's part of why I'm keeping a close eye."

K gestured wordlessly toward Scott as she held Charles' gaze before she tipped her head nearly down to her chest. "That man doesn't need to be anywhere near children," she told Charles sharply.

"He's a total snob and a jerk," Clint put in helpfully.

"And he only cares about what powers you have," K said. "In a school where you're trying to teach kids to be proud of their powers no matter what…"

Charles let out a sigh. "You've made your point, K."

"Good." K tipped her chin up before she turned her attention back to Clint and ruffled his hair. "What do you think? Does he get it?"

Clint giggled. "Maybe," he allowed, which just got a low chuckle from K that he could feel in her stomach first before he heard it out loud.

But then Arrow nosed his way into the little snuggle going on, and, at least for the moment, Clint forgot about the tall supervillain that had darkened their doorstep while he was instead wrapped up in playing with his puppy.


	3. Don't Touch Rachel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clint is very protective of his new little family.

 

* * *

 

Clint had been thinking about what had happened with Magneto for a few days. Not just about how he couldn't stick him with his pocketknife or about how the guy had  _tossed_ his mom… but about all the stuff he had said about humans and mutants and stuff.

Clint knew that there were bad guys who were really  _awful_ to mutants, because his mom had to run away from the department and was still a little bit worried about if they'd show up again. But that Magneto guy… he'd made it sound like it wasn't just bad guys and it wasn't just jerks like Clint's dad, and it left Clint feeling kind of… weird.

He didn't feel out of place in Westchester usually — not after he'd been there for so long — but for a few days after Magneto came, he started to notice more the fact that he was the youngest… that he was the only one there with no powers now that Barney was gone…

He wasn't going to say anything about it, but there was no way he was going to hide something like that from Jean, especially since he still wasn't really good at hiding his thoughts when he was really hung up on something. She called it projecting — which meant he was thinking really loud. And Clint realized he'd been doing it when he caught Jean frowning his way before they'd even set up for their lesson.

"Clint," Jean said gently, "no one here thinks any less of you because you're human. You know that, right?"

Clint shrugged quietly. "Yeah, well… I dunno. I've never beat up mutants or nothing, but that guy acted like I did and d'you think maybe other kids will?" he asked.

"No one thinks that of you, Clint," Jean promised.

"Barney said there's some mutants in his circus, and they have to hide sometimes," Clint said quietly. "And I don't think that's right either. That's like those idiot cowboys being mean to my mom 'cause she's a girl."

"There are a lot of people that really don't have any manners or sense," Jean told him. "But that's not what we teach here. And if we're going to follow what we teach our mutant students, then we have to practice that too." She took a breath and let it out slowly. "Did you know that what we're trying to do is to make it so that mutants and humans can live together in peace?"

Clint shook his head. "Kitty and Jubes said you guys have been making sure to save people from bullies and stuff like the people my mom's running from."

"Yes, and that's part of it," she said. "But the other part — and maybe the bigger part — is that we want everyone to be able to live around each other without all the hatred and stupidity. Magneto ... he doesn't believe that it's possible. We're determined to prove him wrong."

"Well, that's just stupid of him," Clint said with a sniff. "My mom's a mutant, and she doesn't care about if me and Barney are anything like her. And — and Jan likes shopping with you even if she's a human and you're not!"

"Then you already can see that we're  _right_ ," Jean said. "It's just a matter of time before people like Magneto have to admit it." She took a moment to tip his chin up so he was looking her in the face. "Don't you think that a lot of these kids here want to be with their families? And for all of it to be alright?"

Clint nodded. "I wanna hit some of these kids' families, though, 'cause you shouldn't kick kids out."

"Not all of them are from parents that got rid of them," Jean said. "A lot of them, their parents sent them here to protect them. Just look at how many are gone during the summer or Christmas break."

Clint nodded, bouncing his chin on her hand a bit. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But I talk to the other kids sometimes 'cause they don't got anyone."

"And they probably love seeing someone that is proof that there's hope — you're just proving us right, Clint. Showing that humans don't have to hate mutants."

Clint couldn't help but smile at her for that. "Well, it ain't hard," he said. "I like everyone here."

"It's hard for some people," Jean said. "You're just a lot smarter than most." She smiled warmly at him. "Don't let people like Magneto shake you. You're far braver than they'll ever be."

Clint took a second to give Jean a little smile before he darted over to hug her around the middle. "You're real nice, you know that?" he whispered into the hug.

"Love you too," Jean replied, squeezing him right back.

* * *

Clint was in a much better mood after his lesson with Jean, and he didn't mind at all spending some time playing with Rachel after the lesson — while his mom was working out some class schedule details with Scott.

By that time, Rachel had sort of figured out rolling around and was therefore a little more trouble around the house because she loved to roll past all her toys until she hit something — usually Jean or Scott. And seeing as she would immediately get picked up when that happened, she wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

Clint had to giggle, then, when Rachel rolled right into him, and he very carefully picked her up to hold her. "Hi," he said. "You gotta stop doing that."

Rachel simply gave him a gummy sort of smile and reached up to grab his nose with her fingers, which had Clint grinning right back at her. He didn't really know what to do with babies, but they were ridiculous and silly and fun to play with sometimes — when they weren't crying.

"You two look like you're having fun," Scott said, and Clint glanced up and grinned at him, holding Rachel up so Scott could take her. The little girl immediately curled up to Scott with a sort of coo as Scott said down with her.

"Just trying to get her to stop running into stuff," Clint said with a little shrug.

"That's a losing battle," Scott said with a smirk. "She's exploring."

"She's gonna explore herself into, like, rolling off a cliff or something," Clint said with his nose scrunched up.

Scott raised an eyebrow over the top of his glasses. "Do you think we're going to leave her alone on a cliff for some reason?" he asked with a slight smirk.

"I dunno; maybe," Clint said, raising both shoulders up in a shrug. "You guys go to all sortsa places with the X-Men."

"I think we'll probably wait to let her run any missions until she can walk," Scott said, unable to hide his amusement at Clint's assessment of things.

"Well, how 'bout me, then?" Clint asked, sitting up a little straighter and putting on what he thought was his most winning smile. "I can walk  _and_ talk  _and_ shoot stuff, you know."

Scott smirked at that and reached over to ruffle Clint's hair. "You sure can," he agreed. "Does that mean you want to join the team when you get older?"

"I want to join it  _now_ ," Clint said, leaning forward with wide eyes.

Scott's smirk turned into more of a smile. "Hey, I admire the enthusiasm, but we can't go taking an eight-year-old kid with us to fight supervillains."

"Why not?" Clint said. "I can fight real good, and I help Mom with the bad guys after her, you know!"

"I know," Scott agreed with a nod. "But you're still too young. We want you to be a kid while you can. Get in snowball fights and cannonball contests, that kind of thing."

"But I want to be a superhero," Clint insisted. "I know I can! Mom says I can!"

Scott paused for a moment, obviously not sure which was the right step. On the one hand, Clint really  _was_ too young to join the team, but on the other, he didn't want to crush Clint's excitement…. "I know you can," he said at last. "But …" He paused and tried to figure out how to word it. "The bad guys that we fight… some of them wouldn't hesitate to hurt you even though you're a kid. In fact, they might even target you to try to get to the rest of the team because you are smaller. I don't want to put you or the team at risk — does that make sense?"

Clint's shoulders fell, but he nodded all the same. "Yeah, I guess so."

Scott let out a breath. "That doesn't mean you can't work hard right  _now_ , Clint," he said. "You're right; I think you'd make a great hero someday. By the time you're old enough to join the team, you'll be head and shoulders above everyone else with how hard you're working."

"When, though?" Clint insisted, his eyes wide. "I don't wanna have to  _wait_."

"Well," Scott said gently, "Jubilee was thirteen when she joined the team. I think that's a fair age to shoot for, don't you?"

"That's so  _far away_ ," Clint groaned.

"It's not too far," Scott promised.

"I'll be a  _teenager_!"

"Yeah, but you'll be bigger and tougher, and you'll have years of training with your mom and with other heroes." Scott gave him a reassuring smile. "The bad guys won't know what hit them."

Clint peered up at Scott and then, finally, broke into a little smirk. "Nope. They won't see me coming at all."

Scott smirked at that and nodded before he leaned back, pulling Rachel up into his lap to play with her while they talked. "And in the meantime, weren't you going to learn to shoot on horseback?" he asked.

Clint grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Mom says she's gotta show the horses how it's done first, but then I'll get my turn."

"You'll be a regular Robin Hood," Scott smirked.

"No, I already worked it out with Logan, and  _he_ says I should use 'Hawkeye' like from  _Last of the Mohicans_? Because I got good eyes and stuff too."

Scott grinned. "I think that fits you, definitely," he agreed.

"Good, because Mom and Barney already said they liked it too, so I'm keeping it," Clint said in a tone that brokered no argument.

Scott simply smirked at that and nodded, going back to playing with Rachel, who was starting to nod off by then. "I'm going to take her upstairs," he said. "But hey, next time you see Jean, tell her you have your codename picked out, and I'm pretty sure you'll make her day."

Clint grinned. "She already knows — 'cause she peeked," he told Scott matter-of-factly. "Jean is really bad at  _not_ peeking."

"She really is," Scott couldn't help but laugh as he headed upstairs, with Rachel already snuggling into his shoulder.

* * *

Clint was headed downstairs to get the dartboard out and play around, but on his way down, he had to stop when he saw that Logan was headed out in uniform looking  _mad_. Which meant that whatever was going on, it had to be bad.

"What's happening?" he asked, taking off at a run to catch up with Logan.

Logan paused and frowned down at Clint, obviously weighing out what to tell him before he bit back a growl and redoubled his pace. "Old problem that wants his head cut off like I did Creed," Logan said.

Clint's eyes were wide at that. "Is someone in trouble?" he asked, since he couldn't think of anything else that would have Logan acting like that.

"Yeah," Logan said.

"Can I help?"

"Stay here," Logan said, turning to Clint with such a look of severity that there was no way Clint could do anything  _but_ listen to him. The look alone was enough to nearly bowl him over, and he took an unconscious step back before Logan let out a breath. "This guy in particular… you don't want anything to do with him, bud."

Clint nodded wordlessly, still shocked at how  _serious_  Logan looked. He couldn't come up with a word of argument as Logan headed out, and he simply wandered back to find Arrow.

He was completely preoccupied thinking about what the team could be out there facing, of course. It seemed like Logan was  _upset_ , and Clint had only ever seen that happen when it was really, really bad…

He tried to watch a movie, but that wasn't enough to calm his nerves, either. He really cared about everyone on the X-Men, and he didn't like the idea of them going out and fighting someone who could make Logan look like that. He wanted them to come home safe.

So when the jet finally landed again, Clint made a mad dash for the hangar. No one had noticed him because it seemed like everyone was trying to get there too — especially Doctor Blue, who looked more serious than usual.

But when Clint got there, he was shocked to see that it was Jean and Scott who were worse for the wear. Scott had bandages around his middle and around one leg, and he was holding onto Rachel tightly, almost protectively. The only reason Jean wasn't holding Rachel was that her hair was actually on  _fire_ ; she was that mad.

Clint had never seen that before. Which was good, because it meant his attention was on Jean's hair, and he totally missed the fact that Logan was incredibly bloody as he stepped out of the jet too.

When Logan saw the little boy in the hangar, he doubled back into the jet to pull his shirt off and clean himself up a little better before he stepped out again, this time taking Clint by the shoulder to pull him away from the scene. He wasn't going to get onto him for his curiosity, but he wasn't going to let Clint stick around when he didn't need to know the details.

Of course, that didn't mean Clint wasn't brimming with questions, and his eyes were wide as he walked alongside Logan. "What happened?"

"I told you; big idiot wanted his head taken off."

"Didja kill him?"

Logan let out a breath and slowly shook his head.

Clint frowned at that. "But you totally killed Sabretooth."

Logan nodded. "This guy is a little different than Sabretooth."

"But you said—"

"I know," Logan said before he turned toward Clint and leaned over slightly — Clint was growing enough that Logan didn't need to crouch anymore to be on his level. "But you don't need to have anything to do with him, alright? He only cares about mutants, so he won't be nice to you if you get in his path."

Clint made a face. "I don't see why people're so stupid," he said. "It shouldn't matter if you got powers or not."

Logan shook his head. "Trust me, kiddo — you're better off not catching his eye."

Clint wrinkled his nose. "Well, what if I wanna hit him? He hurt Jean and her family!"

Logan nodded, not about to shy away from the truth with him. "He did," he agreed. "He does that."

"It's so stupid," Clint said angrily. "Jean's one of the nicest people I know! Nobody should hurt her! And — and if you don't want me near that guy, what the heck was Rachel doing there?" He seemed to get angrier as he thought it over. "I wanna put an arrow in his head if he hurt Rachel!"

Logan let out a breath, knowing if he didn't cut this off at the pass, Clint was only going to get more worked up. "He didn't hurt Rachel, but he did make her mad," he said. "She wasn't happy about spending her time with a creep."

Clint shook his head. "No way. No one would like that."

Logan nodded. "This guy… he's obsessed with Scott and Jean's family. He took them because he thinks he's some kind of scientist, and he wanted to look at Rachel."

"So he's an evil scientist?" Clint asked, his eyes wide.

Logan nodded gently. "Yeah, that."

"Wow." Clint shook his head slowly as he considered what Logan was saying. Then, he straightened up slightly and stuck his chin out. "Well, I'm gonna be an X-Man  _and_ an Avenger, just like you. And I'm gonna make sure that evil scientists don't ever,  _ever_ get to hurt anybody, okay?"

Logan smirked at that. "Sounds about right," he said before he moved to redirect the little boy, though Clint was still staring over at the Summers clan.

"Okay, but why's Jean's hair on fire?"

Logan let out a breath. "It does that sometimes," he said. "When she's mad, there's always fire involved."

"I didn't even know her hair  _did_ that."

"Well, she's never been mad at you," Logan pointed out as he cuffed Clint around the shoulder and finally succeeded in redirecting him. "Now, didn't your mom say you two were going to go riding?"

That finally got Clint's attention, and he broke into a grin. "Ooh, right! She's gonna teach me how to be a cowboy!"

Logan smirked at that. "I'll bet she is," he agreed, finally getting Clint out of the hangar and away from the rest of the team.


	4. Family Comes First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clint is Really Concerned about the Summers family.

 

* * *

 

Clint was watching Jean carefully the next morning. It was the weekend, so they didn't have any classes planned, but he really cared about his teacher. After all, she had taken the time to help him even when he didn't trust anybody in the school.

She was halfway curled around Rachel, with Scott's arm around her shoulders. They had their heads together, and Clint recognized the signs of a telepathic conversation between the two of them. Every once in a while, they would give each other a quiet smile or nod or shake their heads; it was the little things that gave away that they were talking.

He wasn't sure what he could do to help them. He wanted to do  _something_ , but Scott had said that he was too little to be on the team.

Clint hated that. He wasn't too little to get caught up in other stuff. He'd faced the soldiers coming after his mom, and he'd dealt with Sabretooth when he was just seven! He was  _eight_ now, and he felt like that was big enough to fight.

Even after his cereal was gone, Clint stayed at the breakfast table, absently stirring his milk — which was now purple because of his cereal — as he watched the Summers family. He didn't like feeling like this, feeling like he was helpless. He hadn't been able to deal with it when it was his mom and he was watching her hurt because of his dad, either. And this was his new family — he should be able to  _do_ something!

He was brought out of his thoughts when K reached over to mess with his hair, and he automatically ducked away from her reach, smiling despite himself. "Why d'you gotta mess with my duck fluff all the time?" he asked — also automatically.

"If you really don't like it, I can stop," K said with an airy tone and a little shrug. "But it's just so pretty." She paused, put on a false frown, and then lowered her voice slightly just to tease him. "I mean … it's very handsome. And manly."

Clint rolled his eyes and smiled despite himself. "That's right I'm handsome."

K smirked to herself — especially since Clint was just starting to stop fighting her when she gave him compliments, but she wasn't going to point that out to him. "And what's the plan today, handsome?"

"I dunno," Clint said, falling back into a small frown as he glanced toward the Summerses again. "Maybe… maybe we shouldn't stay with the Avengers this summer."

K raised an eyebrow at that. "I thought you were excited to play with Thor."

"I am…" Clint bit his lip. His gaze hadn't moved from Jean and Rachel. "I just… I just think maybe we should stay. And — and you and Logan can — can maybe help with this evil supervillain messing with Rachel and her family…"

K couldn't help but smile at him once she heard where his head was. "Clint, we'll be here in a heartbeat if they need us. But if you really want to stay…"

"I wanna help," Clint said softly, then paused and turned her way. "I dunno  _how_. Scott won't let me be an X-Man yet, and Logan told me to stay away from this bad guy, but I  _wanna help_."

K let out a breath and then pulled Clint into a tight hug, with his head underneath her chin. "You're my little hero," she told him. "And I'm sure if you go talk to Jean, she'll tell you she's already planning to come find you and hang out with Jan this summer too," she added in a whisper.

Clint smiled at that. "Good. I like Jean  _and_ Jan."

K ruffled his hair again. "But if you really think you don't need to spend summer vacation with the Norse god of playing with puppies…"

"That's not what he's — he's the god of thunder, Mom!" Clint said, breaking into a little giggle despite his earlier bad mood. "I thought you said you knew 'em all!"

"I do, but clearly the myths and legends missed something with him," K said, smirking wider at him even as he shook his head vehemently. "I mean, for the god of thunder, he sure does spend a lot of time eating sugary cereal and playing with our dogs."

"Yeah, but our dogs are so awesome that no one can  _not_ play with them," Clint pointed out.

K nodded slowly. "That just might be true," she allowed before she kissed the top of his head. "But I think it's just that he likes having his own little duck fluff around too."

"Mo-o-o-m," Clint whined.

"Oh, right. Of course. His own  _big_ duck fluff."

"Mo-o-o-m!"

K smirked and tickled his side. "I can't help it," she said. "I have two  _beautiful_ blondes to play with…"

"And Logan. Don't forget him!" Clint said quickly.

"Oh, definitely can't forget him," K agreed, nodding seriously.

"Yeah, 'cause you're getting married soon," Clint said before he sat up a little bit so he could kiss her cheek. "Okay, I guess we can still go hang out with the Avengers this summer. But only 'cause we're still gonna see Jean and Rachel."

"Good to know where your priorities are," K chuckled.

"Gotta take care of our family, Mom," Clint said, perfectly seriously. "That's always most important.  _Always_."

K smiled and pulled him into a hug. "Then I guess they're pretty lucky we've adopted them into the family too, huh?"

Clint nodded at that and seemed to settle in for a solid snuggle. "Oh yeah. Definitely."

* * *

There were still a few weeks left in the semester, so it wasn't like Clint was in a rush to pack everything up and go to the tower for the summer. And for as much as it made him feel better to think that his friends in Westchester and New York were friends with each other and that he'd be able to see everyone that he loved… he was still worried about Jean and her family.

They were, admittedly, doing a lot better now that they were a little further out from what had happened. Jean was a little less protective of Rachel, and Scott was doing a little less of that sort of quiet thing he did where Clint was sure if someone popped a balloon behind him he'd jump out of his skin.

Still, Clint had decided that even if he couldn't  _do_ anything to help — like fight the evil scientist or something like that — he was going to make sure that at least his friends weren't super miserable.

So when he got to class that morning, instead of sitting down with Jean to get to work, he went straight to Jean and simply attached to her side in a hug, settling in for a solid snuggle.

Jean looked surprised for a moment — but of course, she wasn't going to argue it if he wanted to snuggle, either. "Good morning to you too, Clint," she said.

"Hi, Jean," he said, glancing up at her with a little smile before he doubled down on the hug.

She smiled a little more at that and sat down with him. "Any reason for the warm welcome? Trying to get out of any homework?" she teased lightly.

Clint paused and raised both eyebrows before he looked up at Jean. "Would that  _work_?" he asked.

Jean laughed. "Not even a little bit."

Clint pushed his lower lip out in a frown. "Well, darn. That could have been my secret weapon!"

"But you weren't thinking about that, were you?" she teased.

He shook his head, remembering what he was supposed to be doing in the first place as he tucked back in. "No," he said. "I just… wanna make sure you get plenty of hugs. Because you and Scott got hurt, and I know you're scared about Rachel…"

Jean's eyebrows shot up when she realized what the problem was, and then she let out all of her breath in a  _woosh_ as she very quickly tried to find a way to explain what was going on. It was obvious Clint was concerned, and she wanted him to understand — but Mr. Sinister was a can of worms that had even grown adults thrown off their game. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of having to explain that to a child.

Finally, she opted to simply push his bangs back from his face and smile down at him. "We're alright," she promised.

"Um, I know I can't smell lies like Mom can, but I can see 'em, and you been real upset, so …"

Jean couldn't help but smile at him, despite the conversation topic. It was such a Logan thing to say that she couldn't help it — even if she was sure that he'd picked it up from K and not Logan. And that, to her mind, was only further proof of how perfect it was that Logan had found K and her boys.

But Clint was still watching her, so she schooled the smile a bit and pushed back his hair again. "We really are," she promised. "I know it's hard to see it this way, but the fact that we feel safe enough to be sad here is a big deal." When Clint wrinkled his nose, she tapped her finger against his nose just to get him to make a face. "This is our family. We feel safe when we're here — and that includes feeling safe enough to express our feelings."

It was clear Clint was thinking it over as he chewed his bottom lip. "Like… like how some people just let you cry if you need it," he said slowly.

Jean nodded gently. "We're okay now, but this guy…" She let out a breath. "His name is Mr. Sinister—"

"That's the stupidest name ever," Clint interrupted her before she could say anything further, his arms crossed, clearly unimpressed in his body language as well.

Jean smiled a little more at that — and then took the extra step to go ahead and reach out mentally for Scott. After all, Clint had a unique way of looking at the world, and after his assessment of Erik, she was sure this one would be just as good — and she knew Scott could use the laugh.  _Clint's on a roll again._

 _This early?_ Scott teased.

 _He wanted to know what the story was with Sinister_ —

 _Jean_ —

 _I'm not going to scar him, Scott,_ Jean said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes.  _But I thought you'd appreciate the running commentary on the 'stupidest name ever'._

Scott paused, and then she could hear the almost-laugh in his tone.  _He's not wrong._

 _Exactly,_ Jean said, clearly tickled as well before she turned her attention back to Clint, who was staring up at her with both eyebrows raised.

"You're really bad at this, you know," he said bluntly.

"What?"

"Well, if you're gonna have a secret conversation with Scott, then you should maybe learn to control your face, because I can  _totally_ tell when you're talking to him. It's  _really_ obvious."

"Well, you  _are_ a little Hawkeye," she teased him gently — getting the  _huge_ grin out of him that she had expected, since he absolutely loved it when people used the name he'd picked out for himself.

"Uh-huh. I'm getting real good at picking up on stuff, too," he said, leaning forward with his eyebrows high on his forehead. "Logan's helping me so I can be a superhero when I'm a teenager!"

"That soon, huh?"

"That's what Scott said — no takebacks!"

"Oh, I wouldn't dare," Jean chuckled, brushing his hair back again. "You're already a little hero, Clint. You take such good care of our family. You know that, right?"

Clint let out a sound of frustration. "Yeah, but no one will let me  _fight_!"

"That's because we want to protect you," Jean said gently, still playing with his hair that never seemed to be entirely tidy. "This guy in particular — he's been following Scott since he was a little older than you are now." She gave him a serious look. "He took Scott away from his brother and twisted him up for years. You can understand why we don't want him anywhere near Rachel, right?"

"Uh-huh," Clint nearly breathed out, his eyes wide.

"We won't let him do anything to her, Clint," Jean promised. "But we don't want him to hurt you either. That's why we don't want you to get involved."

Clint made a face that clearly told Jean that he didn't think much of her assessment of his ability to help — but he did, at least, nod his resigned agreement. "Okay, I  _guess_."

Jean smiled and took his face in her hands so that she could pull him over to kiss the top of his head. "I love you, Clint," she said with a smile. "You know that, right? You know all of us love you to pieces?"

Clint looked up at Jean and tipped his head to the side for just a moment before he broke into a smile that spelled all sorts of trouble. "If I say I don't believe you, will you not give me any homework?"

Jean couldn't help but laugh at that and shook her head. "No, but good try," she said.

"It was worth a shot, right?" Clint said, the grin only getting wider with every word. "My mom says if you don't try, you'll never get anything, so you might as well try."

"That's a very good philosophy to have," Jean agreed before she scooted over a bit, still with Clint snuggled into her side, so she could pull out the workbook they had been using to practice division. "Okay, so…"

Clint let out the most dramatic sigh he could, taking in enough air to make his chest puff up before he let it all out in a rush. "I  _guess_ we can do math now. If we  _gotta_."

"We gotta," Jean said, not bothering to hide the fact that she was laughing. She waited until Clint was well into his problems before she projected to Scott,  _He's going to be ridiculous when he does actually get on the team, you know._

 _Yeah, I know,_ Scott said.  _Protective drive that high_ —  _we're going to have to look out and make sure that he doesn't get himself hurt trying to keep everyone else safe._

_Kind of reminds you of someone else we know, doesn't it?_

Even if Scott wasn't there, Jean knew exactly the look he was giving her.  _Yeah,_ he said simply.  _They're a good fit, honestly._

 _All three of them,_ Jean agreed, obviously smiling to herself.

She could hear the smile in Scott's mental voice as well as he said,  _Well, one thing's for sure. He knows how to cheer you up. Glad we found them._

_Oh, don't act like you haven't decided he's one of ours too._

_Did I say that?_ Scott asked, laughing even in his mental voice.  _He gets you to smile, and she can hit Logan like no one I've ever seen. Keeping them around is the best decision we've made in a while._

 _No arguments there,_ Jean said.  _I love that our kids will have Clint looking out for them, big brother-style._

There was a small pause.  _Kids?_

 _Oh,_ breathe,  _Scott,_ she said, though she was barely holding back her own laughter.  _Not right_ now.

 _Yeah, no, I know; I was just_ —

 _Oh, I know what you were 'just',_ Jean said, this time unable to stop the laughter, which got Clint to look up at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Hey," he said, giving her the best approximation of one of K's looks she'd ever seen. "I'm s'pposed to have math with  _you_ , not you and Scott."

"Alright, alright," Jean said, holding up both hands. "If you're in that big of a rush to get into multiplication and division, who am I to argue?"

"That's not what I — hey-y-y." Clint scrunched up his nose at her. "That was a dirty trick."

"But you said you wanted to do math," Jean said, chuckling outright.

"No, I … no!" Clint shook his head. "I was just sayin' if you're gonna flirt, I don't wanna have to be a third wheel."

"Well for your information, I wasn't flirting," Jean said, though Scott's projected response of 'liar' had her ready to go find him and hit him.

Clint looked up at her with one eye closed before he shook his head. "Uh-huh," he said in a tone that clearly betrayed how much he didn't believe her before he went back to his math, leaving Jean to deal with a  _highly_ entertained Scott — who was clearly laughing all the way across the institute.


	5. Summer Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clint and his family go back to Avenger's Tower, where the Avengers are shocked to hear what the X-Men have been dealing with.

 

* * *

 

When summer started, Clint knew that the Avengers had been thrilled to get their "turn" with him by the fact that Jan had almost tackled him in a hug before he was even through the door, grinning widely at him.

"Oh, I was going to spin you around, but you're too tall!" Jan teased, putting a hand on the top of his head to measure his height — and to be fair, he was now up to her shoulder, so he  _had_ grown a lot.

Clint gave her a grin and hugged her right back. "I'm gonna be taller than you — just you wait!"

"Oh, I have no doubt," Jan agreed, nodding seriously with her eyes wide before she ushered Clint and K inside and took just a moment to make sure she gave Logan a hug as well and to kiss K's cheek.

Of course, the Avenger Clint was most excited to see was Thor — and the big guy absolutely didn't disappoint as he reached down to scoop Clint up one-handed, grinning broadly at him. "And when will you be joining the team, my young friend?" he asked in the voice that always seemed to boom throughout the room but was never yelling.

"Well, I keep getting told I'm too young," Clint pouted dramatically.

"Nonsense!" Thor said, shaking his head with that same wide grin still in place. "It is not age or size that determines the worth of a warrior. It is heart — and we all know that you have that!"

"That's what I've been saying!" Clint said, nodding seriously — though he didn't get to make his case very well when Thor saw little Arrow and decided to get acquainted with the friendly puppy. And Arrow, for his part, took all of a few seconds to warm right up to the massive Asgardian.

"So, how was school?" Jan asked, honestly interested and thrilled to have Clint back.

"It was nice to have Barney there for a while," Clint admitted. "But Scott won't let me be an X-Man until I'm  _thirteen_ ; can you believe that?"

"How dare he," Jan said, obviously entertained and shooting K looks that clearly said she had missed this dearly and that this was the best thing that could possibly happen.

"Well, he said it was kinda dangerous, which… I mean, I  _guess_. But still!" Clint looked around at the other Avengers, who were all in various states of amusement. "I could do it!"

"Of course you could," Steve said — since Clint looked like he had something to prove and he knew that kind of look could lead to serious trouble from experience. "You just need to keep practicing."

"I  _been_ practicing," Clint said, tipping his head far enough back that he was looking up at the ceiling. "I wanna help fight losers like that stupid Magneto guy." He looked right at Steve, his eyes bright with anger. "He  _tossed my mom,_ and that's not okay."

As Steve nodded along listening to Clint tell the story of the Magneto encounter, Tony slid over to where K was with one eyebrow quirked up. "Magneto, huh?"

"I already  _told_  Charlie letting supervillains into a school full of minors was idiotic," K said. There wasn't anything sharp about her tone, but it was also clear enough for Tony to see that it was the kind of word that would have a lasting impact on her target.

Tony nodded, especially when the pause in the conversation was just in time for Clint's retelling of how "Logan and Kurt said I shouldn't use my pocket knife so I'm just gonna strangle him with his cape because it's so stupid."

"Nothing says ego like a cape," Tony said with a smirk, though the look was only thinly veiled in Thor's direction.

Clint heard it though and grinned Tony's way. "He dresses like he's going to the  _opera_ ," he said, his eyes wide.

"Going to it, or singing in it?"

Clint giggled. "Ooh, yes. Both!" he said. He leaned forward, almost over the edge of the couch he was sitting on. "D'ya think all supervillains are like that? I mean, I only met a few…"

"If they were, they'd be easier to spot," Tony replied.

"Well, the Red Skull has a red  _face_ ," Clint pointed out. "And Magneto has his stupid cape and Sabretooth was just stupid."

"Red Skull has a target for a head, Magneto has his cape, and Sabretooth has his fur union suit. No … no connection other than evil," K said.

Clint giggled at that. "Uh-huh," he said before he turned to Logan. "What about that bad guy who tried to take Rachel? Whatsisname? Does he dress stupid too?"

Logan drew in a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, Sinister's got a cape and a whole closet full of bad choices."

But even with Clint nodding triumphantly, that last bit had the Avengers paying a little closer attention. "What now?" Tony asked. "What… who's coming after the  _baby_ at your place?"

Logan let out a breath at that. "Recurring problem. He's a geneticist that goes by Mister Sinister. Real name's Nathaniel Essex … He's got an obsession with Jeannie and Slim."

"And that obsession leads to  _coming after a baby_ ," Tony said, his tone flat as he stared at Logan with a look that clearly said not only was it the first he'd heard of this guy but he was a step away from asking for all the intel to go fix it.

"The guy's probably the worst one we've come across," Logan said. "He augments himself with other mutants' powers, and he's got pretty much everything you can think of."

"How come we've never heard of him?" Jan asked, her lips pursed. She'd unconsciously moved closer to Clint, though Logan was sure she didn't know she'd done it.

"Probably because you're not mutants," Logan said dryly. "He hasn't got much use for humans."

"Yeah, Magneto said the same thing," Clint agreed. "He didn't really care 'bout me even if I'm not one of those humans that's mean to mutants for no reason." He rolled his eyes. "Stupid."

"Essex is a little different, bud," Logan said. "He's not … he doesn't try to do anything against humans like Magneto does. It's just … a non-issue to him."

"Well, at least that's good for Clint," Jan said quietly. "But … really? Rachel's… I mean, I brought baby clothes the other day and she's…  _Really?_ "

"He's gone after Scott his whole life," Logan said. "Since he was a kid. So, yeah, I got no trouble believin' that he'd go after the baby."

"Well I do," Jan said. "That's just… that's extra evil."

"You haven't crossed paths with him. Just be happy about that much."

Steve frowned at that. "You know, Logan, if you need the backup…"

"Not my call, Cap," Logan said, though he wasn't looking his way.

"Jean's hair was on fire she was so mad," Clint put in helpfully. "So I think she's got it."

"And Clint and I stayed home for the duration," K added.

"Yeah, but when I'm big enough, I'm gonna shoot all the bad guys that are mean to my new family," Clint insisted, miming drawing back a bow. "They won't know what hit 'em!" When the adults in the room seemed to get quieter, though, Clint jutted out his chin. "I  _will_!"

"Gonna have to," K agreed quietly — though it was clear to Logan anyhow that it was a move to keep Clint from taking it as a dare.

"You'll teach me, right, Mom?"

"Of course I will," she agreed. "And I'll upgrade your gear, too." She rested her hand on the top of his head. "Sweet little duck fluff."

"No, Mom, I already said I was gonna be Hawkeye when I get to be an X-Man," Clint complained.

"I was talking about your hair, not your codename."

"Which is amazing," Jan said, finally breaking out of thinking of how to keep Clint out of danger to smile his way. "I like it. It fits you."

"That's what Logan said too," Clint said, puffing out his chest a bit with how proud he was.

"Which is all the prompting Jan needs to start designing for the future," Tony said.

"Okay, but it has to be purple," Clint insisted, pointing a finger Jan's way. "And… and I need one with X's and one with an Avenger logo, because I'm gonna be like Logan and be on  _both_ teams so I can take care of  _everybody_ , okay?"

"Such a good kid," K said, smirking.

Clint grinned at that and rushed over to hug her without the couch in the way, scrambling over the side with a little smirk. "Good enough to be a superhero!"

"You've already got that part figured out," K said. "You just have to get big enough."

"I  _hate_ waiting," Clint said, rolling his eyes dramatically. "I'm getting bigger all the time. I'm gonna be as tall as you soon!"

"That's not really much of a mile marker," Tony teased.

"Yeah, but Mom can totally take people down, so if I'm as big as her, then I can totally take  _anyone_ on," Clint insisted, which had both K and Logan smirking.

"I mean, he's not exactly wrong," Jan said, unable to hide her smile before she reached over to ruffle Clint's hair. "Come on, mister. You totally owe me, like, five games of Yahtzee."

"Okay, but I'm gonna win," Clint warned.

"Game on," Jan shot back, already laughing as Clint rushed off to get the game set up — which of course gave Steve the opportunity that he wanted to talk to the two adults in the family, one eyebrow raised.

"Seriously, Logan. If something's going on…" he said.

"I don't know what you could  _do_ ," Logan said. "But you're welcome to talk to Scott and see if he's got any ideas."

Steve nodded at that. "I may just have to," he agreed. "I didn't even know about one of those… though of course, Magneto is an easy one when he's on the news every other week. I don't know why Xavier would invite him with the threats he's been throwing around lately."

"They've been friends for decades," Logan said. "Long before Erik went total megalomaniac."

"Still." Steve let out a breath and then slowly shook his head. "At any rate, I think it's long overdue I had a talk with Cyclops."

"Especially since he gets to steal the cutest future Avenger in the world for most of the year, which is just  _not fair_ ," Jan said, making sure to exaggerate her pout to make her point.

"You act like you didn't go out to the school to outfit them every time the weather even looked like it might think of changing."

"Well, yeah," Jan said, her chin tipped up slightly. "I mean, you have two growing boys! And they're the sweetest things in the  _world_." She grinned crookedly. "And I am totally Aunt Jan. No one can take that away from me."

"Like anyone's dumb enough to try," Tony muttered, getting a dry look from Jan. But that just had him smirking her way. "Have either of them even  _called_ you that or is this just you?"

"Oh, shut up, Tony," Jan said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Make me," Tony laughed.

"Don't tempt me," Jan warned, though her smile had turned a little more troublemaking.

"Oh, just kiss him for Christ's sake," K said.

Both Jan and Tony turned K's way at that, though, and Jan was wide-eyed. "What? No, we're just—"

"Don't  _lie to me,_ " K said, doing her best impression of scandalized.

"I'm not!" Jan shot back. "We — we've been doing this for  _ages_."

"Practically since we were in high school," Tony agreed.

"So quit with the public flirting and swap a little spit already," K said.

"No, no," Jan said, shaking her head. "No, see, this is just… fun."

"Oh, I know," K agreed. "It really, really is, but … come on. Look at him. He's  _pining._ "

Jan glanced over at Tony for a moment — and then burst out laughing when Tony's reaction to the whole situation was to give Jan the most  _dramatic_ , over-the-top approximation of pining that she couldn't  _not_ laugh. "That's not even what you look like when you're pining, so you can just stop now!" she said, shoving Tony in the shoulder.

"I can't," Tony teased with a laugh. "I'll never get over it, I'm told."

"That's just so sad," she said in mock concern. "I guess you'll just have to console yourself with the dozen girls outside hoping you'll give them five minutes of your time."

"Oooooh, nice," K said with a troublemaking smile. "There is a joke. Waiting. Right there. About the time limit … but I'm feeling nice, so I  _won't_ say how that's probably all he'd need."

"Hey," Tony said, whirling to point a finger her way — but then he broke into a wide, troublemaking smile. "Nothing wrong with a quickie."

"Oh my gosh — make my point for me," Jan said, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.

K was cracking up by that point, though. "Nothing wrong with one for  _you_ , come on. That's not a record girls enjoy, mister."

"You act like I don't have a reputation to back up that I  _do_ know what I'm doing," Tony pointed out, though he was laughing good-naturedly as well.

"Yeah?" K asked, raising one eyebrow. "Get many repeat customers there, slick? Didn't think so."

But at that, Jan simply couldn't handle it and burst out laughing, clutching her stomach at Tony's expression. "She totally told you!" she gasped out.

Logan and Steve weren't far behind her either, both of them doing their best to hold back, but with Jan cracking up like that … Tony was shaking his head, trying to play it off by running his hand through his hair. "Oh come on."

"Come on, I thought you were quick … well. You admitted you were quick. I was talking about words, though." K was smirking crookedly, since she  _knew_ she had him off center.

"I'm just — I'm trying to figure out where the conversation took a turn here," Tony said, shaking his head to himself.

"Mmmhmm," K said, waving him forward. "You gotta keep up."

Jan wiped her eyes and rushed over to give K a hug. "Oh, I  _missed_ having you here."

K wrapped her up in return, laughing still. "He got rusty with me gone. I am so disappointed. You could drive a semi through that opening he left me."

"Clearly, you need to come over way more," Jan said, half hanging onto K to keep herself upright after the solid laugh. "Oh my gosh. Best 'welcome back' ever." She took just a moment to get her breath back before she straightened up, once more wiping her eyes. "Oh! And I totally need to talk to you about the wedding. You're going to do it once Barney comes back from the circus, right? I may have ideas."

"Um … yeah. I wasn't planning on a big thing, though."

"Oh! I can do that too," Jan said quickly. "Absolutely. And I totally have thoughts on the tuxes with some purple lining for the boys…"

"I don't think purple is a good thing for Logan," K laughed.

"Well, no, but he looks good in blue, and blue and purple together can be  _stunning_ ," Jan said.

"If you say so," K said.

"Trust me," Jan said, readjusting so that she was draped over K not to hold herself up but to lean forward in a clearly conspiratory move. "I am  _good_ at what I do." She smirked at Logan. "And what I do is design awesome things."

"I know you are  _amazing_ ," K said. "And you're hilarious, too. Don't forget that."

"Oh, never," Jan said. "I'm the whole package! Funny, gorgeous, smart…"

"Which is so  _stunning_ that Mr. Big Shot here can't get it  _together._ "

Tony rolled his eyes. "K, trust me — if I need your help to get a girl, first of all, I'll die of shame. Second of all, you'll know, okay?"

"Then you should start writing your eulogy," K shot right back.

"Don't need your help!" Tony sang back to her. "I just need a good bottle of wine and a private room."

"Oh, I am  _not_ that easy," Jan said in a stage whisper to K — and then burst into laughter all over again.

"Sounded to me like he said he needed  _substances_ to get the job done," K said before she nearly snorted out: "And he's shy, apparently."

Tony shook his head, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling. "There is no way to get out of this," he said to no one in particular.

"Not with the routes you're taking," K sang out in a lilting tone.

"Apparently," Tony said before he shook his head again and pointed toward the door. "I'm just going to go down to my lab now. So you two can carry on — seeing as you clearly don't need me here."

K grinned wider and turned toward the others before Tony could leave. "Cap, you're looking lovely today. I'm so glad you're here to keep things in line." Which just had Jan laughing harder when they could hear Tony's noise of disbelief from the hallway.


	6. Baby Hungry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jan is waaaaaayyyy too excited about the upcoming wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes (from mags): Sorry it took me so long to get back to this one! I got distracted with "Disciple" going out in a rush and also with my Real Life book being published (Prisoners and Puppet Strings) and with some other real life stuff, but I'll give this story more love, I promise!

One of the side effects of living in the Tower for the summer was the fact that Jan now had much easier access to K, so she was sure to pester K with all sorts of questions about what she wanted out of the wedding, what her style was when it came to the dress, that kind of thing.

It was innocent enough, but it was a little wearing on K, because she honestly didn't have much of a preference. As long as the boys were involved, that was what mattered to her.

But Jan was totally preoccupied with her new project, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Which was how Clint found himself watching his mom making faces over Jan's head as Jan measured her for the giggled as K managed to maintain a totally straight face when Jan would straighten up, and it continued like that until Clint was clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

"What's so funny, little man?" Jan asked, straightening up to face him — though her expression said that she knew more or less what was going on and was just as entertained.

"I think you're more excited about this than Mom is," Clint said.

"No way," Jan said, shaking her head hard and grinning widely. "That's just not possible."

"He has a point," K said with a smirk Clint's way.

"Yeah, Mom says it doesn't matter what all the little stuff is like as long as she loves the person she's marrying," Clint said with a slow sort of nod.

"So you  _don't_ want matching purple-lined suits with Barney?" Jan shot back, raising an eyebrow at Clint.

He rolled his eyes. "That's not what I said!"

"That's what I heard!" Jan sang back to him, grinning even wider now. "I guess I'll just have to put you in tiger stripes so you match Logan…"

"I don't want tiger stripes!"

"We'll paint some on your face…"

"Mom!"

K was trying hard not to laugh at the genuinely alarmed look on Clint's face as she waved him over so he could attach to her side. "Like I'd let her put you two in anything but your favorite color," she said.

"Good."

"Yeah, but that means you do care about the little details," Jan pointed out. "At least a little bit."

Clint rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath. "Okay,  _fine,"_ he said. "But I still think you're  _way_ too excited. You're not even getting married!"

"No, but I love designing things, just like you love shooting stuff," Jan explained, waving Clint over so he could see some of the sketches that she'd already made of different dresses and suits for the wedding. "It makes me happy when I can make something amazing, just like you love mastering a new trick shot or a new weapon."

"Just generally less exciting than new trick shots or weapons," K said in a stage whisper.

"To you, maybe," Jan said with a little sniff before she went back to her drawing and tapped one of the sketches with the eraser of her pencil. "This one… this one is my favorite," she said. "The shoulders are perfect, and the fit is great, and the waist starts high enough that if anything happens in the next few months…"

K was already shaking her head. "Stop. No. Just …  _no_. NO."

"Well I like to be prepared!" Jan replied. "It's not out of the realm of possibility, you know!"

K took a moment to fully face Jan, going so far as to square up with her. "You know what? You are tempting me to just cut him off entirely — and then point out that it's your fault. Let you deal with  _those_ consequences."

"Um. Wow." Jan blinked at her. "I wasn't — um, no?" She shook her head. "I just wanted to cover my options!"

"That is not an option."

Jan blinked once more before she looked back down at her drawing. "I was just… thinking of tiny little… you know, with stripes and…"

"I swear to you — you'll be the first non-Logan Avenger to know," K said. "But don't look that far ahead. One finish line at a time, designer lady."

"Okay, okay, message received," Jan said, holding up both hands. "But I still like that design best. For the record. And not just for the waist. I think it's perfect for you!"

K crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, just for your original number one reason? No. It creeps me out."

"Oh, fine." Jan rolled her eyes and flipped the sketchbook to the next page, with a few other designs. "Okay, so this one is my second favorite. I don't think it'll show off your shoulders the same way, but it  _will_ draw attention to your neck, and the veil I'm thinking of doing with the open back is perfectly sheer and it'll make the  _best_ design on your skin with the right light…"

"Much better sell line," K said. "What do you think, Clint?"

Clint looked between the two women and then sort of scrunched up his shoulders quietly. "I dunno. They're dresses."

"Maybe we need to see one with leather chaps and bluejeans then," K suggested to Clint.

He gave her a quiet smile for that one. "Yeah. Sure."

K bit her lip and turned his way, blocking Jan from seeing what she was up to as she signed out.  _Are you alright?_

Clint nodded.  _I'm okay._

_No you're not._

Clint shrugged.  _I'm okay, Mom,_ he said, even going so far as to give her a tight smile. "So I guess you got all the dress stuff figured out, so I'm gonna go play with Arrow, okay?" he said, already turning to slip out of the room.

"Alright," K said, not sounding at all like she was convinced.

"Okay, well… yeah," Clint said before he hurried out to go find Arrow — who, as was always the case when Clint was upset, completely abandoned the Avengers he was playing with to go romp with Clint outside for a while.

He was trying to be okay, really. He just… hadn't thought that far ahead. He hadn't thought about how K getting married meant she and Logan might have their  _own_ kids, because up until then, the focus had been on him and Barney giving  _permission_ , so it had felt kind of different than any other family he'd been with before.

He was sure K wouldn't just cut him loose, of course. But that didn't mean he wasn't  _also_ sure that she'd forget about him once she had her  _own_.

He was halfway curled up with Arrow when K arrived, and he straightened up a bit and tried to act like he had been playing, ruffling Arrow's ears. He didn't want her to not get married or anything if it made her happy. He just…

"Alright," K said as she made her way toward Clint. "I think we need to get away from the tower for a little bit. Too many Avengers stinkin' it up."

Clint shrugged. "No, it's okay."

"So you  _don't_ want to get out for a little bit?"

"Well, I do, but I mean…" Clint shrugged again.

"Just you and me," K said.

Clint paused, chewing on his lower lip as he considered her. "Where we going?"

"Hell if I know. Just thought we haven't had any time just us in a while. There's always someone else in the middle of it."

Clint nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said. "I mean… I mean, that's okay because you're getting married, though."

"Do you know how tired I am of all this wedding prep garbage?" K said. "I have half a mind to just … take you and Barney and Logan … and just … go sign the papers and call it a day."

"I think Logan would like that," Clint said with a quiet smirk.

"I think he'd like it more now that everyone's going overboard on the planning." K smirked. "You know … like the tablecloth trick … just …  _yank_ it out from under them?"

Clint smirked a little harder at that. "Yeah, but Barney really wants to be in the wedding."

"So he can help grab a hold of the tablecloth," K said, smirking a little wider at him. "The point is that it's getting way out of hand."

"Yeah, it kind of is," Clint had to agree.

"So let's get some air, you and me. You know, before I just … panic and bolt?"

Clint scrunched up his nose at that. "You shouldn't do that. You  _like_ him."

"I really do," she agreed. "But it wouldn't be the first time."

"You ran away from someone?" Clint asked, his eyes wide.

"Oh sure," she said, nodding as she put her arm around his shoulder. "But he was as worked up as Jan is. So, I had good reason."

Clint shrugged at that. "Yeah, but Jan is happy, and that's good, right? I mean, people are supposed to be happy about weddings and stuff."

K let out a sigh. "It's not the wedding part that freaks me out, okay?"

Clint tipped his head to the side. "So, what's got you scared? 'Cause you don't get scared real easy, you know?"

"I'm not scared. I'm just … not in a rush to do the whole …  _baby_ thing. And Jan is waaay too excited about that. It's unsettling."

Clint let out a breath and tried not to look  _too_ relieved. "Yeah."

K shrugged, making a face and looking totally frustrated. "What do I need something like that for anyhow when I've got two  _perfect_ little boys? That's just …  _no._ "

"Yeah," Clint said again, quietly nodding. "I just… you know… you and Logan might … I mean, I'd be okay if you  _did_ …"

"I'm not in any rush for anything like that — and if I thought he was, I'd have never said yes," K said.

"Oh. Oh, okay," Clint said before he couldn't help but dart over and hug her. "Okay. That's… that's … yeah."

K hugged him back tightly. "So you know … if it's all the same to you? I just need to get out of here for a little bit."

"Yeah, we can totally do that." He glanced up at her. "We could go get some burgers, maybe? Since Barney isn't here to complain about fast food…"

"That sounds great," K said in a sigh. "But we'll go to a bar, where the burgers are actually more meat than grease, if it's all the same to you. Lord only knows if I gain any weight, Jan will be jumping to conclusions."

"We'll name the food baby thing after the bar and confuse her," Clint said with a quiet smirk.

"As funny as it would be ... it would be horrible after that," K said dryly.

"Yeah, I guess," Clint agreed, then glanced up at K. "I… um… I'm glad you're not tryna … you know. I mean, I'd be okay if you were, but I'm glad it's just you an' me an' Barney an' Logan right now."

"I don't think I could handle it, honestly," K admitted.

"You're a real good mom," Clint promised quickly. "And I love you lots and lots."

"I love you too, sweetheart," she replied.

"And so does Barney," Clint said. "Even if he lives with the circus. I just don' want you to think we don't — you know — you're amazing and we're really happy…"

"That's all I'm looking for. Just want you happy, both of you. And safe."

"Well, we got rid of the big, ugly, evil dude, and me an' Barney are getting better and better at knives and swords and bows and stuff every day, so I'm pretty sure we have 'safe' covered," Clint assured her.

"For now," she said almost airily.

Clint rolled his eyes at that before he rushed her in half a tackle, half a hug, enough to almost knock her backwards. "I'm gonna be a hero, and don't you forget it!" he declared. "And I'll be an Avenger  _and_ an X-Man  _and_ I'll take care of you too!"

"You might have to fight Logan for that," K said before she kissed his head.

"Don't think I won't," Clint said, drawing up a little taller, but with a crooked sort of smirk on.

* * *

It was another two weeks or so before Jan decided she needed another shot at playing with wedding looks for the two of them, though this time it was for Clint. And she legitimately did need to measure him, because he had shot up another couple of inches in that short amount of time — so that he was now officially as tall as K.

Jan was, of course, tickled over the growth spurt and was sure to tell him so as she fussed over everything. "You're going to look so grown up!"

Clint rolled his eyes at that. "You know I'm eight now, right? I'm not  _that_ little. And I'll be almost nine when the wedding happens!"

"That's what I'm saying," Jan said, shaking her head at him.

Clint rolled his eyes again with a muttered, "Yeah, I know what you're saying," but Jan was in too good of a mood to rise to the bait.

She was humming to herself as she worked, and she had just let Clint off the hook for measurements when he saw her let out a sigh and mutter to herself about little wedding onesies. She hadn't actually said anything out loud, but he read her lips, and … something snapped.

"You have to  _stop_."

Jan looked up at him, blinking a couple of times in surprise, before she shook her head with her smile still firmly in place. "Stop what?"

"Stop with that baby talk." Clint crossed his arms over his chest. "You're gonna scare my mom. She says she's not ready, and she's already got me and Barney, and it's not right."

Jan raised her eyebrows as she met Clint's gaze — and it was obvious to see that he wasn't going to budge about this, either. At first, she thought he was just being defensive… but then she saw the way his lower lip was quivering, and anything she might have said completely dissolved as she rushed over to pull Clint into a hug.

"Clint, no one is trying to replace you," Jan said gently. "I just like to get excited. When Hank and I talked about the future, I always wanted kids, and now, I like to spoil the little ones my friends have. That's all. I'm excited to be Aunt Jan." She brushed his hair back from his forehead. "I like spending time with you and seeing Jean and Rachel. I wish I could do it all the time, with plenty of little ones. But if it upsets you and your mom that much, I'll keep it to myself, okay?"

Clint bit his lip and nodded before he threw his arms around Jan in a tight hug — since now, he could tell that Jan was upset, and he didn't like that. "I think you're real great, and I think you should find somebody who's as nice as you are. Not Hank. Someone fun. Then your kids can be really amazing."

Jan let out a little noise that was half gasp half laugh before she tucked Clint into a solid snuggle. "Love you too, buddy," she said before she finally let him go and scrubbed a hand over her face before she forced a perky smile. "Now! Right. Let's do something not related to weddings and babies. Why don't I kick your butt at a game of Life?"

Clint grinned at that. "Okay. You can be the yellow car," he agreed, grabbing her hand to pull her along.


	7. Avengers and X-Men Assemble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clint sort of accidentally plants some seeds in Steve's brain.

 

* * *

 

Logan and K were still curled up asleep together when Clint woke up with a pretty stuffy nose. He was coming down with a solid summer cold, but sometimes, it helped him to walk around until his nose stopped trying to fall off his face.

So that's what he was doing when the Avengers came in from what had clearly been a pretty serious battle, judging by the fact that Thor and Steve had Tony propped up between them and Jan had a solid bruise on her arm.

Clint's eyes were wide as he rushed over to the group of Avengers. "Are you guys okay?"

It was obvious the Avengers hadn't expected the youngest tower resident to be  _awake_ to see the aftermath of a mission, and they shared a quick, wordless look between them before Thor took Tony off and Steve sat down with Clint, one hand on his shoulder to turn him away from the injured heroes. "You should see the other guys," Steve said with a quiet smirk.

Clint couldn't help but return the smirk — in spades. "You totally kicked their butts, huh? Who were you fighting?"

"Hydra."

"Didja fight the Red Skull?"

Steve frowned a bit but then shook his head. "Not this time."

"Oh, okay." Clint shrugged. "Well, I just figured I don't see you guys get hurt real bad too often, so…"

Steve smirked. "Well, that was mostly Tony's fault. Hydra knocked his suit out with some kind of new tech, but when Jan got hit, he was pretty insistent on going in to get her while we dealt with the bad guys."

Clint's eyes widened at that, though he was already nodding. "Oh, yeah. Because he likes her."

Steve didn't even bother to hide his smirk at that. "It's pretty obvious, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Clint tipped his head to the side. "I think he's kind of stupid sometimes, but I saw how he was real good with Jan after Hank hit her, so I think that's okay. I like Jan a lot."

"Me too," Steve said, his smirk widening. "I'm sure they'll be glad to hear you approve."

Clint shrugged easily. He didn't really care about the romances at the tower, if he was honest. He was more interested in the heroics of the team. "So, how come you were fighting Hydra? Were they doing something to take over the world again or something?"

"Pretty much."

Clint nodded. "That's what I thought. You guys're always dealing with, like, the end of the whole world and stuff." He looked over both shoulders before he leaned forward. "That's why I think maybe I'm gonna be an X-Man first, 'cause they save people, not like, whole worlds."

Steve raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh?"

"Yeah, Kitty was telling me how they sometimes have to go stop a buncha people from beating up just one person and I think maybe that's why you guys don't do that kind of thing because maybe… maybe you don't got time for saving everybody when you got the whole world to look out for."

Steve's smirk fell entirely, and he turned to face Clint properly. "What are you talking about?"

Clint frowned, obviously picking up on the fact that he'd hit a nerve. But when Steve looked genuinely bothered and seemed to expect an answer, he let out his breath. "Well, it's just… Kitty and Jubes tell me about how the X-Men go get kids who get kicked out and stuff or, like, people who get beat up 'cause they're mutants. But I don't think you guys do that. You don't talk about it, so I figured it's because maybe … maybe you're real busy." He shrugged again, looking down at the ground and feeling his cheeks flush. "It's okay. There's lots of people who're real busy and they don't, y'know, help."

Steve was almost frozen as he looked at Clint. It was obvious he didn't know what to say, but he finally, quietly, cleared his throat and put a hand on Clint's shoulder. "Clint, you know if we ever heard about something like that happening — if we  _ever_ saw that kind of thing — we'd step in."

Clint shifted but kept his gaze down and nodded. "Yeah, well, it's okay. I wasn't tryna start anything. I just figured that's what was happening, is all."

Steve's mouth was a tight line before he couldn't help but pull Clint into a hug. "I'm not mad, Clint," he said, since he recognized the defensive body language for what it was. "Not at you, at least. I'm just upset that people are doing that to kids."

"Yeah, me too," Clint said into the crook of Steve's arm.

For just a second, Steve tightened his hug before he finally let go and let out a breath. "You'd better get to bed. What are you doing awake this late, anyway?"

"My nose weighs a ton, so I went walking so I could breathe," Clint said with an easy shrug.

Steve almost smirked. "Yeah, I can relate," he said. "Feel better, alright?"

"Thanks," Clint said. "And tell Tony to not be so stupid, okay? You don't gotta get hurt to tell a girl you like her. Duh."

At that, Steve broke into a genuine smile. "I'll pass the message along."

Clint grinned and flashed him a double thumbs-up before he slipped off, though for a long time after that, Steve didn't move except to sit down where he was.

It wasn't like he didn't know the score. Politicians and pundits had been talking about the mutant "menace" for long enough know that Steve knew anyone with the X-gene had been having a hard time. And Jean had been hanging out with Jan enough that Scott knew the X-Men were genuinely invested in the vision Charles Xavier was out there preaching.

So he did, of course, know at least part of the story. He knew what Logan had told him about this Mr. Sinister character, and he knew that there were some people out there who would stop at nothing to get to mutants.

It was just one thing to know that and another to hear the honest hurt in a  _kid's_ voice, especially a kid that Steve knew had been through the wringer before he even got to the tower.

Steve had sort of figured the team was doing right by the whole world, not just parts of it. And they had mutants on their team, too. That had to count for something. But to hear Clint talk in that sort of resigned tone like the Avengers were just more people in a long line of adults who turned a blind eye while kids were hurting…

Yeah, that had to stop.

* * *

The next morning, Clint came down much later than usual — which was entirely understandable, considering the early morning he'd had. But still, he hadn't been expecting to find Steve talking with Scott and looking like he hadn't actually slept at all while the two of them had their heads together.

He couldn't help his curiosity as he crept closer until Steve spotted him and gave him a warm smile, waving him over. "We were just talking about you, Clint."

"You were?" Clint asked, frowning and wondering what he could have done that the leaders of  _both_ of the superhero teams that he wanted to join were talking about him. He was still half worried that he'd made Steve mad last night, but he didn't want to give away his nerves, so he instead gave the two men a smile full of confidence. "You're tryna figure out how I can be on both teams, right? You have to figure out how to share an awesome Hawkeye?"

Both Scott and Steve smirked at that. "Well, the Avengers don't have a junior squad like we do, so until you've graduated from  _my_ junior squad," he said, giving Steve a little smirk, "we'll just have to see where you are when that happens."

Clint shrugged. "Okay, so long as you're okay with that, Cap…"

"I'm fine," Steve said. "Actually, I was just talking with Scott about what you said to me last night."

Clint froze and only just swallowed down the reflex to bolt. "Oh… yeah?"

"Yeah, you got me thinking," Steve said with a gentle smile. "I don't want anyone to think the Avengers don't protect everyone. And if that wasn't clear, I want to make it undeniable."

Clint blinked at him. "Oh."

Scott smirked at that and shook his head. "We're just talking about how our teams can work together more," he explained. "Who knows — by the time you join the junior team, the teams won't be so far apart."

"That would be nice," Clint agreed, starting to smile a little more when it was clear he wasn't in trouble or anything.

"Yeah," Scott said with a nod before he broke into a grin. "It's all thanks to our own little ambassador."

Clint shook his head, his cheeks suddenly flushed. "I didn't do nothing."

"You have a knack for telling the truth," Steve said. "And in a way that makes it hard to deny."

Clint shrugged his shoulders up to his ears. "Yeah, okay. That's not really hard, though. I just say what everyone's thinking."

"Not everyone can do that," Steve said.

"Yeah, okay," Clint said, not entirely sure what to do with the compliment and inching toward the door. "I'll just… umm… let you do your team leader… thing."

"Thanks, Clint," Steve said, still with that warm sort of smile.

Clint shook his head to himself as he slipped out of the room and went down to breakfast. He  _wanted_ to help, of course. That's why he kept saying that he wanted to be on the teams when he was old enough. But it was still kind of weird to think that  _Captain America_ had listened to him so hard that he'd stayed up all night and then brought Scott over to do… whatever the heck they were doing now.

When he did get to the kitchen, he poured himself a bowl of cereal and took it with him to where the big TV screen was so he could watch cartoons and take his mind off of serious things like superhero teams and mutant kids in trouble. And he was pretty comfortable and settled in and most of the way through his cereal when Jean came to sit beside him and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Did you come with Scott?" Clint asked.

Jean nodded. "You think I was going to pass up on the chance to say 'hi' to my favorite Hawkeye?"

Clint couldn't help but smile a little to himself when he heard anyone use his codename. It was like a little reminder that he was going to be on the teams someday, even if he wasn't old enough yet. "Where's Rachel?"

"We left her at home with the professor," Jean admitted. "She's been a little fussy, and we weren't sure how long this trip would take…"

"Yeah, I saw Scott talking to Cap," Clint said, his eyes wide as he nodded. "They like planning."

Jean smirked at that and nodded. "Scott was surprised when he called, you know. There hasn't been anything in the news lately; it's been a relatively slow summer."

"Yeah… that was my fault," Clint said, turning slightly pink.

Jean shook her head. "I wasn't complaining," she clarified and then pulled Clint into a warm hug. "I'm glad we have you around. You're such a good friend, Clint."

Clint shrugged at that but simply tightened the hug when he heard it. "I still don't think I did nothing special."

Jean shook her head — but she knew that Clint was still struggling to accept compliments. He could take them from his mother, and he could take them when it came to his schoolwork simply because Jean and Storm were sure to point out the concrete ways that he'd been improving so that he could see it clearly. But she could always hear that self-doubt in the back of his mind if she peeked.

It was hard to overcome years of abuse, even if Clint had thankfully gotten out of that cycle of horror at a young enough age that Jean knew he'd get past it eventually. K had been doing wonders for him.

But he still had moment like this, when he couldn't  _accept_ that he'd done something good. He wasn't used to something he considered backtalk turning into something good.

So, Jean simply wrapped him up in a tighter hug and kissed the top of his head. "Sometimes," she said, "you don't have to do anything  _special_ to get people's attention. Maybe it was just the way you said it or maybe Captain Rogers was already thinking about it and you reminded him that he wanted to act. You never know how you're going to help people just by being you and being  _good_."

"I like that," Clint said with a quiet smile, resting his head on her arm.

Jean smirked and leaned in to whisper, "I stole it from the speech Scott gives at the start of every semester to the kids in his human-mutant relations class."

"You did not," Clint giggled.

"I did," she said with a smirk.

Clint grinned up at her. "Don't worry. I won't tell him you're stealing his stuff."

"Are you kidding?" Jean laughed. "He'd be shocked to hear it. He's a lot like you, Clint. He doesn't realize that he says sweet things unless someone points it out to him."

Clint shrugged. "Well, it's a good thing he's got you, huh?"

"And it's a good thing you have us," Jean said, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Now. I haven't seen you in ages—"

"—it hasn't been  _that_ long—"

"—and I want to hear all about how you've taken over the tower and turned Thor into the god of playing with puppies," Jean continued.

At that, though, Clint had to laugh, a mischievous smile spreading over his face. "Oh yeah," he said, nodding seriously. "You gotta hear about the god of puppies."

Jean laughed and rearranged herself so she was giving Clint her full attention. "We need popcorn."


	8. The Return of the Department

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. In advance. For the evil.

 

* * *

Clint was starting to really enjoy himself now that he got to see both sides of his newfound little family more often.

He hadn't really thought about it before, because it had been so normal for the Avengers and the X-Men to be separate. He was with one team for school and the other for summer vacation, and that had only reinforced the separation. But it was  _way_ more fun to get to see Storm over the weekend and hang out with the friends he'd made at the school even while he was at the tower.

He hadn't actually said it out loud, but the fear had always been in the back of his mind that the heroes would forget about him with how long he was gone. Even if the Avengers had only spent a few months with him last summer and then welcomed him back with open arms this summer, he had spent just enough time in the foster system getting sent back with Barney and bouncing to the next place that he kept wondering when the next door would close.

So it was definitely nice to know that he'd see his X-Men friends at the tower and his Avenger friends in the mansion.

But even with everyone coming and going and all of Clint's friends starting to become friends with each other — which was always really fun, especially because Kitty and Jubilee both had  _really_ obvious crushes on Thor — Clint was glad when he got a chance to spend some time alone with his mom.

He appreciated that she was trying to do that more often, especially as they got closer to the end of summer and therefore closer to the wedding. He thought it might also maybe be a way to get away from everyone that was overly excited about the big day, too.

The nice part, at least, was that Logan definitely wasn't being as pushy as the others were.

Clint was really warming up to the idea of Logan being his step-dad, because he seemed to be the only person who wasn't going totally insane lately. Even Barney seemed overly excited — but Clint thought that was maybe because Barney didn't really  _live_ with them except for about a third of the year when he wasn't on tour, so he didn't have the same worries Clint did about losing their mom.

But what Clint liked most about Logan was that he didn't get jealous or anything when he and K would go out and have some time just the two of them. The closer they got to the wedding, the more K seemed to make it a point to do that with him, and Clint really,  _really_ appreciated it. He didn't want to get forgotten, and this was the best reassurance she could give him.

So they headed out that weekend to go camping. Not camping like they had been doing before, where it was sort of on the run, wherever they could find a good place. This time, they brought s'mores materials and they knew where they'd be going and they had plenty of fun snack food and a fishing rod because Clint wanted to learn how to do that too. It was camping for  _fun_ , and he was pretty excited about it.

"Jubilee was telling me about how she makes her s'mores in the microwave with  _Cheeps_  and that's just a  _lot_ ," Clint said, his eyes wide as he followed K to where they'd be setting up their campsite.

"Wrong," K said. "It's just wrong. Like she  _needs_ more sugar."

"She says she does," Clint insisted. "She says it's totally a  _requirement_."

"Of course she says she does," K said, shaking her head. "She also acts like a toddler when facing vegetables."

Clint giggled. "Yeah, well, even  _I'm_ not  _that_ bad," he said, tipping his chin up. "I mean, I still think that squash tastes like mashed up  _gross,_  but I'll eat it. I'll eat just about anything!"

"Squash is nasty," K agreed. "But if you cover it with enough spices, it's  _tolerable_. Or … put it into a good ratatouille."

"One time, I ate squash and zucchini, like, every day for  _forever_ when I was at a foster home," Clint said, scrunching up his nose.

K made a face, complete with her tongue sticking out. "Yeah, no. There was a place that I went to years ago that made baby squash into their dishes — while the flowers were still on them. Which was fine unless they were picked with a bee still in the flower before it was cooked."

Clint's eyes went wide. "What happened?" he asked, almost in awe.

"Nothing. You just find a fried bee sometimes in the flower. Pretty gross."

He continued to gape at her. "A  _fried bee_?"

"Well … they cover the squash blossom with batter and fry it … where's the bee going to go?"

"That is the grossest thing I ever heard," Clint declared, shaking his head. "I need… I need s'mores  _now_ so I can  _drown my sorrows_!" he added, dramatically flopping back in the grass.

"I'm game for that," K agreed, though she was a bit more relaxed about joining him in the grass.

"But no Cheeps," Clint clarified.

"No, that's disgusting. If we're going to do s'mores, we're going to do it right. With regular marshmallows, chocolate … and maybe a peanut butter cup or two."

"Oooh, yes, we should do a peanut butter cup," Clint agreed quickly. "Make it  _even messier_."

K grinned at that, and it wasn't long before the two of them were well into the s'mores supplies. Clint was absolutely delighted the whole time, roasting two marshmallows at once and snacking on the peanut butter cups that they weren't using on the s'mores.

Eventually, they  _did_ actually eat something that wasn't sugary — if nothing else because K accused Clint of turning into Jubilee, and that was just  _not_ going to stand — and Clint spent a little while playing with Arrow and working off the sugar high while K worked up the steaks over the fire.

"Been a little too long since we did this, I think," K said out of nowhere.

Clint glanced up at her and then smiled and nodded quickly. "I like doing this with you," he admitted. "I mean, I really like our new friends, but I like this a lot too. A lot."

"It's just … simpler."

"Uh huh." Clint looked over his shoulder and smiled. "I bet Logan would like it too. He can come sometimes — but I like this too."

"He really would enjoy it," K agreed. "But he knows we both need time away from the crowd." She tipped her head. "Which … is why he let us take his car."

"Jean says I won't wanna do this as much once I start kissing girls," Clint said, making a face that clearly said what he thought of that idea.

K wrinkled up her nose at that. "Why not? The best girls like this kind of thing anyhow, right?"

"Yeah, but maybe if I'm kissin' someone, you'll do like you did to Barney and whistle and stuff," Clint said, then quickly held up a hand. "And I am  _not_ kissin' anyone. For a long time. Okay? I ain't Barney."

"Hey. It was  _funny_ when it was Barney. And he was trying to  _hide it._ "

"He turned as red as a tomato!" Clint said with real relish, leaning forward as his eyes sparkled.

"See? Fun."

Clint grinned and settled into K's side, with Arrow curled up at his feet. Both of them were starting to slow down after playing hard, but Clint was still grinning so widely it was impossible  _not_ to smile looking at him.

"Yeah. We need to do this more. Your portable foot warmer is getting snuggly, too."

Clint giggled. "His name's Arrow, Mom. You're silly."

"He's a very snuggly foot warmer, too," she pointed out. "With super soft ears."

Clint tipped his head to the side and then nodded. "Yeah, he is," he agreed. "I think he likes when we do this, even if he also likes trying to take Thor down. He thinks he's bigger than he really is."

"And then he turns into a puddle of puppy fuzz when Logan scratches the secret spot," K said as she reached out to scratch under Arrow's chin. "Some guard dog you are."

Clint giggled as Arrow totally flopped over. "It's an off button," he declared, reaching over to scratch Arrow's chin too. "Besides, he's still smaller than me, so I'm taking care of him right now."

"You're doing a great job, too," she agreed.

"I like taking care of people," Clint said.

"You're a natural," she agreed.

"Just like my mom," Clint said quietly before he simply attached to K's side in a snuggle.

K smirked at that and only moved enough to pull out a blanket that the two of them could curl up with since the air was starting to carry a chill, and of course, once Arrow snuggled up too, it was perfectly warm despite the breeze.

Both of them were pretty comfortably out, and the fire was just starting to die down, when K heard the first hint that the two of them weren't alone. Since it wasn't a terribly private camping ground, she didn't think  _too_ much of it at first, but it did have her a little more alert just in case.

K drew in a breath, and though she was snuggled up well enough, she very quietly turned her head to look around their camp … though it wasn't very useful, since the smell of campfires all around them with  _thick_. She couldn't  _see_ or scent anything off … and the movement she was hearing really wasn't anything beyond what was expected, considering it was the start of hunting season and there were a few campsites full of groups of guys spending the weekend 'hunting'. Even if it was really code for "getting wasted with their buddies in the woods." She settled in a little deeper, careful not to disturb Clint as he slept on, and even Arrow was solidly passed out by the time K rested her head again.

She'd just turned her head toward Clint when she was hit by several darts at once — all of them hitting her at the same time from her shoulder down her side and her leg. Her first reaction was to check that Clint wasn't hit — even before she considered what she was going to do — but by then, the overly heavy dose was enough that she simply didn't have it in her to fight the drugs. Everything seemed to be slowing down and getting heavier, and all she could do was watch as the soldiers began to come in — rifles still at the ready.

Clint was still pretty solidly out until the soldiers were close enough to grab a hold of K — so they probably hadn't been expecting him to wake up in a flurry of fists as soon as someone moved him away from K. He wasn't even totally conscious yet — just lashing out at anything he could hit. And anyone who knew Logan's style of fighting could see that even that unconscious fighting was more directed. As soon as he was more awake, he smashed into pressure points and  _forced_ the nearest soldier to drop him.

"Settle down, kid," one of the soldiers told him. "Come along easy and we won't hurt you —  _or her._ "

"You're a liar," Clint shot back in almost a panicked snarl as one of the soldiers finally got a good grip on his arm.

"Suit yourself," the guy told him. "We got what we came for."

"You can't have my mom," Clint said — before he bit the heck out of the solider's hand that was holding him until the guy got a better grip, swearing at Clint the whole time.

"We've already got her," he said with a laugh, gesturing to how well K was already restrained.

Clint shook his head unconsciously, his eyes wide as he tried a few more times to get loose before he tried something else entirely — and purposefully made his voice shake and lip quiver (more than it was already doing). "Let her go, please!"

The soldier turned his way with a frown. "Do you have any idea how long we've been chasing her?"

Clint shook his head. "She's my mom, and I need her," he said, only half faking how scared he sounded.

The soldier shook his head at that. "Got bad news for you, kid."

Clint kept his eyes wide for a moment longer before he got outright angry and shouted out every word that Barney had taught him, half because he was mad and half because it  _was_ a public place, and he was sort of hoping someone would hear him too. Arrow was trying to help, too — snarling and growling and howling — but the soldiers must have cleared out the area, because no one answered. All that happened was that someone clapped a hand over Clint's mouth until they could get him restrained too and shove a rag in his mouth that tasted like sweat.

Once the soldiers got the two of them to their blacked-out panel van, Clint could see that there were more soldiers waiting for them — and the first thing they did once they got K into their vehicle was to put what amounted to a muzzle on her. "That's one nasty problem handled," the guy said.

Clint glared at him, and since his hands were tied in front of him, he could still give the guy the bird. So that's what he did, seeing as he couldn't really talk otherwise and the guy probably didn't know much sign.

Still, there really wasn't anything that Clint could  _do_. He didn't have any real power to do anything but flip the guy off and .. well… panic, mostly. There was a lot of panicking.

Even though it was the middle of the night, there was absolutely no way Clint was going to feel the least bit tired, not with how much adrenaline he was running on, and not with the fact that his mom  _still wasn't awake_ even when the ride started to go on long enough that Clint was starting to feel a little tired despite his best efforts to keep an eye on her.

But no way —  _no way_ — was he going to fall asleep. Someone had to look out for his mom, after all.

When they arrived at the large, well-guarded facility, the guards were of course joined by more guards — and several white-coated doctors. One doctor in particular looked overly pleased by the entire fiasco and took a moment to look K over with a smirk. "Take them both to the lab. No reason to stress the boy unnecessarily."

Which of course only got Clint to flip this doctor off too — so he was making sure everyone knew exactly what he thought of them. But that was really all he could do; he couldn't do anything to stop the soldiers dragging him and his mom through the halls.

 _At least we're still together,_ Clint thought, trying desperately to come up with  _something_ to keep from totally losing it.

When they got to the lab, it was pretty clear that Clint wasn't going to like whatever was planned — especially since this creep had two tables set and ready to go. "How old are you, young man?" the doctor asked as the soldiers did the hard work  _for_ him and he took his time scrubbing up.

Clint gave the doctor a  _look_ and then flipped him off again before the soldiers finished pinning him down. They took the rag back out of his mouth, but he was too angry and too scared to come up with anything more to say that flipping the doctor off didn't clearly communicate.

But his defiance only seemed to please the doctor more as he relieved the soldiers, leaving the three of them alone. "Come now," he said low. "Do you really want to make this harder on yourself?"

Clint narrowed his eyes and then tipped his chin up. "Leave my mom alone," he muttered.

"That's simply not an option," the doctor told him. "It's shameful that I haven't yet had the chance to examine her until now."

"Yeah, no." Clint shook his head. "No. You don't get to touch my mom."

"I'm afraid, young man, that you don't have any means to  _stop_ that," he said as he approached Clint. "Have you shown any mutations yet?"

Clint shook his head at that. "Lemme 'lone," he said, though his tone was much softer when he was talking about himself and not his mom.

The doctor rested his hand on Clint's shoulder — giving him his best attempt at a reassuring expression. "I have no plans to do either of you any lasting damage. But I  _will_ have my research."

"Don't touch me," Clint said — though he couldn't really pull away, and with the focus on him, he was really starting to fall into panic instead of protectiveness. "I don't got any powers. Lemme 'lone."

"Are you sure? If she's your mother like you keep saying, there are possibilities that should be explored. And if you're correct — and not lying about having a mutation — then even that would prove interesting." He picked up a needle and syringe from the tray nearby. "Either way, I think we'll check that first. And while I'm waiting for my results, I'll spend some time with your mother."

Clint felt like he couldn't get a breath right, and he knew he couldn't  _do_ anything, so he just kind of closed his eyes tightly, trying very hard not to cry — even though his mind was going a mile a minute and he was thinking of how very,  _very_ bad this was. But once there was a cotton ball in the crook of his elbow and Clint knew that guy was going toward his mom, his mouth moved faster than his brain and he said, "You're the guy that kidnapped Rachel."

It made sense, after all. This doctor talking about research and mutation and — and there could only be so many creeps like that on the planet, right?

The doctor paused and turned on the ball of his foot to face him — his eyes flashing as he watched Clint. "What do you know about that?"

"I know you're a bad guy," Clint said, tipping his chin up. "And I know you hurt Jean and Scott and Rachel and that you're the kind of bad guy who doesn't even care if you hurt a  _baby,_  so you're going straight to hell."

"I did no harm to the infant," he replied, then smirked a bit more wickedly. "Your mother, however … can certainly take a lot more than you or the little girl."

"You said you weren't gonna hurt us — and now you're just showin' you're a supervillain," Clint shot back. "Liar."

"The feral isn't easy to hurt," he replied. "So 'hurt' is such a subjective phrase."

"You're such a liar," Clint insisted. "It hurts even if she heals, you lying sack of crap!"

"No reason to be so dramatic," the doctor replied with a wave. "She's sedated. She likely won't feel a thing." With that, the doctor turned his back to Clint as he started the blood test for him. He then headed over to get started on K — mercifully blocking her with himself as he hummed to himself, muttering little things quietly as he gathered his samples.

It was pretty clear, though, when K woke up — not because she started screaming, but because the doctor's entire tone changed and he paused to tell her to relax. He even informed her that Clint was on the other side of the room, easily within earshot.

"I'm okay, Mom," Clint said quickly — just because he didn't want her to think he was in  _trouble_ and get scared, even if he was, and she was, and it was all very, very bad.

K didn't respond to either of them — instead simply doing her best to disassociate and control her reactions. She was  _scary quiet_  as she turned her head away from both of them, but just then, a small  _ping_  went off and caught the doctor's attention.

"Ah, finally," he said, setting down his tools as he stepped back from K. "I'll be back in a moment, my dear. It's time to see what the boy's genome holds." He leisurely strode across the room to clean himself up, taking a seat to read what the computer had come up with, though that had him smiling to himself and leaning closer to the screen. "How very intriguing."

"Did you find a way to get your head out from all the way up your—"

"Charming as that is, young man … you are an anomaly." The doctor sounded overly pleased. "Not quite human, but not quite mutant either."

Clint blinked at him. "Um… no… Dr. Blue said I was human."

"Are you referring to that overly self-important Dr. McCoy that the X-Men indulge in calling a geneticist?" The doctor scoffed to himself. "There is only  _one_ top expert in the field. And that, young man, is me."

"Mm, no. Never heard of you," Clint said. "You're just a loser."

"I haven't introduced myself properly — even though you have stumbled across my ongoing study. One of them, anyhow."

"Uh-huh." Clint shook his head slowly. "But you're really wrong. There's nothing special 'bout me. I don't  _need_ anything."

"Perhaps you don't," he replied. "But I do. And further study is required."

"Um." Clint looked between the doctor and K, who still had her eyes closed. "No?"

"Don't worry," the doctor said with a smirk. "You'll be sedated. No reason to cause you any undue stress to compromise my results. Particularly on such a unique specimen."

"I … that… that doesn't make it any better," Clint said, starting to honestly panic. "Just… just don't… no."

"Then perhaps tell me something I don't know already," he said. "How do you know the Summers family? Who else are you close to in that group?"

Clint unconsciously started to shake his head, but he was too scared  _not_ to talk to him, either. "Jean's my teacher," he said quietly. "I… she helped me catch up in school. That's why I like her. She doesn't think I'm stupid."

"Is that all? How long have you been there?" he asked. "I don't recall them ever taking in a parent — even an adoptive one."

Clint bit his lip. "She, um ... they saved my mom and me," he said, still speaking much quieter than he usually did. "We ran away from the bad guys and Jean and everybody helped us. That's how it happened. It wasn't on purpose or nothing." He glanced toward K. "And she's still my mom. I got the adoption papers and everything, and Scott helped. So… so that's just how it is."

The doctor frowned at that and turned toward K — only to check his files again and mutter to himself, "So very busy."

Clint nodded to himself. "So… so you better just leave us alone, 'cause Jean's not gonna let you—"

"No one knows where you are, young man," the doctor said almost in a bored tone. "And you don't even remember if you managed to hit your panic button. I can assure you your mother did not."

Clint shook his head stubbornly. "Yes, I did. I  _know_ I did," he lied — but he sounded very confident about it. "And you're gonna get it!"

The doctor smirked. "Jean Grey is not the only telepath in the world. And you're now so focused on if you did or didn't hit that button, it's driving you a bit mad." He paused and turned toward Clint. "I did not know about the dog, though."

"Arrow's my guard dog, and if you hurt him, I'll make sure you're a soprano forever and ever," Clint growled out.

"I was under the impression that your mother had an adult dog," he said, going back to his notes.

Clint narrowed his eyes at that. "Shut up."

"So this is a different dog," the doctor said, frowning harder. "Where is the other one? I didn't think she'd replace one so quickly."

"It was your stupid  _monster_ that killed 'im, so  _shut up_ ," Clint yelled, his eyes scrunched up to try to stop the tears from leaking out, but that didn't help at all. "Just shut up."

"What monster is that?"

"The stupid ugly one that Logan cut off his head so he ain't never coming back," Clint spit out venomously.

Essex frowned deeper and did his best to look concerned. "Was he after you, your mother, or Logan?"

Clint narrowed his eyes at the doctor. "You're so stupid," he said. "He hates Logan. That's the whole  _point_ of grabbing me an' Mom. Everyone knows they hate each other."

"So," Essex said with a growing smile. "Logan is protective of you. Excellent."

Clint could feel the drop in the pit of his stomach and started to shake his head. He didn't want to get anyone in trouble. "No… no, that's not…" He bit his lip, trying to backtrack. "He just doesn't like people who hit kids."

"Yes, but … Sabretooth didn't take that keen of an interest unless it was to spite Logan." Essex smiled lightly. "You have simply confirmed what I suspected — and what I gathered from your thoughts."

"Stay outta my head," Clint muttered. "I don't want you in there. I don't want you in my head or — or touching me or Mom. You got it? Just back off or — or Logan'll take your head off too!"

"Seeing as it's so difficult to get into your mother's mind without  _substantial_ trauma … you'll have to do for now."

"No."

"Then I suppose I'll have to turn to the traumatic side of things," Essex said, heading back toward K. "It makes no difference to me."

Clint started to swear, and he was  _trying_ to hold the line until Essex put a hand on K, and then he just… "Okay, okay, okay, just — just wait a minute," he breathed out. "You — you can look. Leave her alone."

When the doctor smiled at that, Clint closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at that smile.

He hated feeling helpless.


	9. Please Come Get Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Logan goes to get his family back.

 

* * *

The next morning, all was peaceful and quiet at Xaviers. The birds were singing in the early morning sun, the world was going on as it always did … and no one seemed to be stressed out or worried overly much about anything. There was a fair bit of excitement, since K and Clint were supposed to meet up with the Xavier's crew for lunch; the two of them had been sorely missed by both staff and student body alike.

Jean was particularly excited, since she and Clint had an ongoing bet on whether Jubilee was going to ask Everett out. And Jean had promised no telepathic nudging, so Clint  _had_ been winning when he said they weren't getting together, but Jean was sure if she could get Clint to budge on the nudging and she could just  _tell_ Jubilee that Everett liked her aloud and not telepathically…

And of course, everyone was excited to play with Arrow too. Kitty and Piotr had taught him 'sit' and 'stay' in Russian — after Piotr taught Kitty how to say it first, of course. And they wanted to see if that had stuck even through the summer months.

The hours followed each other, as they always did … and while everyone else was doing prep work, Logan was doing his best to destress by working on the blackbird. He'd already given his motorcycle a tune up, and he'd played pool with Kurt once he'd finished the bike … so now it was more a matter of finding things to do to keep him busy while they all waited for K to roll up the driveway in Logan's Jeep — complete with a grinning kid and a slobbery, half-grown dog.

"Do you think they're just running late?" Jean asked at last, poking her head into the hangar.

"Prolly," Logan said, half distracted. "Kid probably stayed up half the night or better."

"You're right," Jean said, biting her lip. "I just… Rachel misses him too, you know. I can hear in her thoughts she's wondering where her friend is. We visited them at the tower recently and she adores him…"

"If you're that worried, you can always reach out to see where he is," Logan reasoned.

Jean bit her lip. "Maybe," she said. "I know he hates when I peek, though. And you're right. He's probably just still dragging his feet. I'm sorry. I just love to see them — and to see you with them. I can't wait for you to be a family. You know that."

"Jeannie ... "

"You know you're the  _second_ cutest family in Westchester," she said with a little crooked smirk.

"Ain't lookin' for cute, Red."

"Too bad. Looks good on you," she said, the smirk turning somehow more crooked.

"You could always try to see if you can reach her instead. I'm sure the mental groan wouldn't be anything at all," Logan teased.

"Oh, sure," Jean said, rolling her eyes. "Just let me know when they get here, would you? I'm going to go steal Rachel back from Scott. He's been spoiling her rotten all morning."

"I'll keep it in consideration," Logan replied easily as Jean headed out … though several more hours passed before Logan seemed to realize that it really  _was_ getting later. But rather than raise the alarm unnecessarily, Logan hopped on his motorcycle and headed for the campsite he knew that K and Clint had picked out to camp at.

He wasn't expecting to see the Jeep there with no one around. And he absolutely wasn't expecting Arrow to come bounding out from behind the back tire — shaking and whining as he rushed Logan, looking for a friendly face.

Logan frowned to himself and absently petted the dog as he glanced around the campsite. Sure, there were a couple blankets near the fire pit, and other than a little kicked up dirt … it all  _looked_ in order. Scent-wise, though …

Logan reached for his comm — and asked directly for Kurt. "Bring my extra keys to the campsite," he said. "And probably Sam or someone too."

"I'll be right there," Kurt promised — and true to his word, it was hardly five minutes later that both Sam and Kurt arrived at the campsite in a swirl of indigo smoke.

"What's goin' on?" Sam asked.

Logan tossed him the keys to the Harley. "Need you to take that back for me. I got a little huntin' to do."

Sam looked surprised as he caught the keys. "Sure you don't want help?"

"Nope," Logan said, shaking his head as he picked up Arrow to put him in the Jeep with Kurt. "All I know is that the boy's gonna want his dog in one piece, an' I'm gonna want my bike the same way."

"Okay, well, you know where t' find me," Sam said, one eyebrow raised as he headed for the Harley.

Logan turned toward Kurt. "Tell Scott I'm lookin'. I'm pretty damn sure this scent trail's gonna go dead sooner'n later."

"I'm sure," Sam agreed, looking more serious before he headed out.

Kurt let out a breath and then turned to Logan. "Who is it, then?" he asked. "Who wants so badly to be run through?"

"Special forces," Logan replied.

Kurt frowned at that. "Then we should tell Jean or Charles. I doubt they'd leave much of a trail once we hit the road or the skies."

"Still gonna track it down," Logan said before he began to slowly walk around the campsite with his head tipped to the side. "Go on. I'm not goin' anywhere, right?" Logan didn't even look up at Kurt before he started to follow out an invisible scent trail, leaving his old friend behind with a very upset and still whining Arrow.

Which, of course, had Kurt grumbling to himself at the predicament Logan had left him in — since he clearly couldn't leave the upset little dog, but he didn't think Logan had entirely thought through the many,  _many_ ways that this was clearly a trap.

So, he simply called back to the mansion to let Charles know what was going on — and to ask the professor to look for Clint, just in case the trail, as expected, ended in either a trap or a dead end.

Of course, Logan followed the trail until the scent was gone — at the road, as expected. But instead of stopping there, Logan simply stood there for a moment, weighing out what he knew about where the closest military bases and facilities were. There were a few Air Force bases scattered up the eastern seaboard, both American and Canadian. And it was a hard call to make so close to a border.… But as always, in matters that revolved around  _known_ ex-weapons, he found himself automatically turning north.

He figured that Weapon X would be expecting him to come with the spandex crew; he usually was around them for things like this, after all. But this was his  _family._  And he wasn't about to let the department screw up another shot at getting what he'd been looking for his whole life. So … instead of waiting for the inevitable response from Scott and Jean, Logan started down the road — already making a plan in his head to hotwire the first inconspicuous car he came across and deal with it as it came.

* * *

At first, the guards at the facility where K and Clint were being held didn't think anything of the pickup truck driving down the road. It was rare, but there was a good fishing spot not too far out, and there was an occasional fisherman looking to take the back roads ahead of a relaxing trip out to the lake.

The guards were casually strolling out to talk to the guy — though he didn't seem to be taking the hint of armed soldiers standing on the road. One of them straightened up as they both took a wider stance, starting to realize this wasn't your usual wayward fisherman … but then … as they raised their rifles to fire, the guy in the truck floored it — and clearly had no interest in veering.

Several shots were fired before either guard could reach the radio, but it didn't deter the driver in the least as he barreled through both of them, the gate … the fence … and kept going. The alarm was raised once the truck had gone through several barriers, and shots were being fired, but the guy in the truck kept the hammer down — even headed right for a brick wall.

Guards were taking bets, some of them sure that this had to be a drunk — or someone with explosives. But they truly weren't expecting the truck to crash through the wall like it did — and take down half the wall with it.

The dust hadn't even begun to clear before Logan bailed out of the cab of the truck and started a rush for whoever was closest … claws out and in a rage as he started cutting down anyone he could. He knew the basic layout of the place, and driving through the wall was a good shortcut to skip around a lot of the crap that would most certainly have slowed him down … but it also had the guards already more than a little trigger happy.

Gunfire was echoing the halls as Logan fought his way through, and the group stuck in the lab got to hear most of it as shouts and panicked orders were relayed not only over the comms but in the halls nearby. It was obvious that no matter what this new crop of guards had been told, they honestly hadn't expected Logan to keep  _going_ after taking heavy gunfire. The panic in their voices made it clear: whoever was their superior officers had utterly failed in preparing them for anything like a very angry Wolverine.

A young man just outside the lab started a full panic — obviously trying to reason before he emptied the magazine in his rifle at Logan, who was using the guy's partner as a human shield ... even if he was a dead one. But it was horrific enough to the guard to send him into a full panic befoe Logan sent a handful of claws into him then tore through the door - disregarding the locking mechanism as he cut through the steel and kicked it open.

Logan took a quick look around the lab, and his focus rested on Essex — which only had Logan's growl deepening as he stalked forward. "Get the hell away from them," Logan growled out, his hands still in fists and blood dripping off his claws.

The doctor seemed completely unconcerned, however, and even smiled as he shook his head. "You and I both know you're in no position for demands, Logan," he said as he rested one hand easily on Clint's arm. Clint was keeping his eyes squeezed shut, pale and shaken and flinching away from Essex's touch in a way that Logan recognized only too well — and that just made him angier.

"What the hell do you  _want_ , Essex?" Logan half-snarled out.

"Logan, I have never hidden my intentions," Essex said in an almost patient tone. "I only want to study the possibilities. And to find you with a little family… and such an  _intriguing_ one, at that…"

"Don't pretend like you give a damn about any of that," Logan said. "It's pretty clear you got what you wanted out of 'em. Let 'em go."

"No." Essex simply smiled a little wider. "Do you really think after our last meeting I would allow you a choice? No." He shook his head. "You will stay here, and so will they. If nothing else, as an insurance for your cooperation."

"You know that won't work out," Logan said. "What are you doing working for these idiots anyhow? Didn't think you'd be in a rush to take orders from  _this_ group in particular."

Essex chuckled darkly. "This is temporary. They're rather desperate, and I saw an opportunity."

"And they won't let you keep me, either," Logan said. "I know you don't like to share your projects."

Essex waved his hand. "That's not your concern," he said.

Logan crossed his arms and gave him a dry look for that. "No. Let them go and I'll cooperate. You know I don't break my word."

Essex tipped his head to the side, obviously considering it, before he smirked at last. "I have what I need from the boy. He can go. It won't be necessary to see more until he's older anyway."

"The girl too," Logan said. "She takes care of him. He needs her."

Essex made an impatient sound in the back of his throat. "I know he's part of that school of Scott's. He has ample opportunity for growth and protection."

"And you know after watching Scott how much having his family torn from him is a bad idea," Logan said with a pointed glare.

Essex narrowed his eyes for a long moment before he let out a scoffing noise. "Fine. The girl can go with him —  _after_ I run one final experiment. I'm not yet done. When I have my comparison, she can take the boy, and you will stay."

"Fine," Logan replied, not moving or blinking in the least as he kept his glare steady.

Essex shook his head to himself, muttering quietly about how "willful" Logan was as he undid the restraints on Clint, who looked like he was still on the brink of hyperventilation, shying away from Essex as he sat up.

As Logan stepped forward, he unbuttoned his flannel shirt and took it off, making a point to gently hand it to Clint with the most understated smirk. "Put it on and warm up, kiddo. You're gonna be fine."

Clint glanced up at Logan and bit his lip for just a second before he nodded and held onto the shirt tightly. It was heavier that he expected, but he tried  _really_ hard not to think about that fact… or the fact that he could feel the circular outline of a comm in it that he was definitely holding down in the 'on' position.

Logan had his hand on Clint's shoulder as he held his gaze. "Don't look at anything, got it?"

Clint swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay," he breathed out. "I ... I got your back, Logan."

Logan smirked a little tighter at that and tipped his chin up for Clint to keep back. "Just remember what I told you, kiddo."

"I already broke a guy's knee," Clint whispered. "I remember stuff."

"I know you do," Logan said before he turned toward Essex and simply walked the distance and climbed onto the table for him without the least bit of resistance.

* * *

Charles was looking for Clint and K when Scott's comm went off — which was in itself a surprise, since it was Logan's, and the last they'd heard from Kurt, Logan had gone off on his own to go after their two missing friends, and that usually meant he'd 'lose' his comm somehow when Scott yelled at him to get back and go with the team.

Before Scott could even respond, the comm crackled with a very quiet voice on the other end. "I'm tryna be quiet," Clint whispered into the comm. "Please come get me. There's that evil doctor that took Rachel and I don't want him to hurt my mom and Logan, okay? So ... so get here fast." It was plainly apparent that Clint was absolutely terrified, and Scott and Charles shared a look of alarm now that they'd heard what was going on.

"I'll get the team to the coordinates," Scott told Charles — not daring to respond to Clint directly, since if he was too close to Sinister, that would give him away and get him in trouble.

"Make sure you take Jean and Storm with you — they're the ones he feels safest with," Charles said, frowning hard at the comm where Clint was still whispering his message for help again.

"Already on it," Scott assured him as he slipped out the door, keeping the comm on in case there were any changes. It was the best on-the-ground intel they had, even if when Jean caught up with him, she was absolutely  _upset_ hearing how scared Clint was.

That was the case for the whole team. Nobody could find anything to say when their intel was coming from a terrified eight-year-old in Sinister's clutches, so the blackbird was the quietest it had been in a long time as Scott put them in the air.

 _I'm going to burn him to a crisp,_ Jean projected to Scott, her eyes narrowed when the comm picked up a noise that was obviously Logan even if he was trying to hold it back — and that started up another pleading round of "please get me out" from Clint.

_Let's just focus on getting them out first._

_You focus on that. I'll focus on getting to the root of the problem._

Scott glanced over at her and put his hand over hers.  _Scared kid comes first, Jean._

Jean let out a breath.  _I know. But if I get a chance…_

_I won't stop you._

* * *

Finally, Essex had finished with his comparison — and both K and Logan were starting to heal up — though K didn't look like she was with it at all as Essex gave her a final once over. The girl wasn't quite acting how he thought she should, though that seemed to pique his interest just that much more. Some of the comparative tests between her and Logan had left Logan trying and failing to hold back the sounds of pain, but K … seemed entirely detached. Not that it was going to interfere with his results. It was just … interesting.

She wasn't responding to his attempts to rouse her, and as far as Essex could 'hear', she wasn't really thinking anything at all. Still … years of dealing with Logan had him somewhat cautious. He released her feet first, though her pulse rate didn't even flinch, and moments later, he moved to release her hands as well. And he absolutely didn't see it coming as the little feral simply snapped.

K was off of the exam table before Essex could blink, let alone realize what was going on, and she wasn't  _thinking_  as she tore into him, first with a few hard hits — hard enough to break his concentration entirely — and that was before she brought her feet into it. Essex took a step back, his hand out, even fast enough to catch one of her fists, but before he could pull on her, she whipped around on one foot to crack him upside his head with her foot. She  _let him_ pull her down to the ground with him, only to climb over him and simply start tearing into him … claws … teeth … even Essex's tie was utilized as K snarled and ripped into him.

That was the scene when the rest of the X-Men arrived. They had been expecting to come to the rescue, but… instead, they found K tearing into Essex — whose diamond had stopped glowing by then, but she couldn't have known about his ability to leave his body. And Clint was still clutching the comm with one hand as he ducked under the table Logan was on with the other to come out the other side and start undoing restraints.

For a moment, the X-Men stared at the scene before Scott called out to K. "He's not in there anymore, K. You can stop."

But it was pretty clear that K either didn't hear him or didn't register what he was saying, since she didn't really slow down but to snarl — at least until Clint looked over his shoulder, closed his eyes, and then shook his head. " _Mom, det är okej,_ " he said in very, very carefully practiced Swedish.

For a moment, K seemed to pause, looking down at the bloody mess with a snarl still on her lips that reverberated through her chest. She was very lightly shaking from head to toe — clearly from the rage — but it was enough to get her to pause, even if it looked as if she could dive right back into the pounding.

With Logan cutting the rest of his restraints off, Clint abandoned him and rushed over to K to all but attach to her.

"Clint—" Scott started to say — but it was like watching Jubilee and Logan. He was just tucked into her — and not about to let go, either.

It took K a moment, but she finally started to relax, totally worn out as she tiredly put her arms around Clint's back and then tipped her head toward his to rest.

"I wanna go home, Mom," Clint whispered. "Let's just go home. Scott and Jean and everybody are here and we can go with them."

"M'kay," she mumbled into his hair. " _Mår du bra?_ "

Clint nodded shakily. "I'm okay," he said. "I'm okay. Logan's here and so's the X-Men and we're okay, right?"

" _Ja_ ," she breathed out as she started to get to her feet — though as soon as she was upright, she couldn't help but kick the doctor in the head —  _hard_. " _Snuskhummer._ "

"Let's get you to the jet," Jean said gently, waving them over — though K went to Logan first, with Clint still half hiding in her side, even if he was taller than her now.

Once they did get back to the jet, Jean pulled out a blanket and handed it to K and Clint while Scott put them in the air. "We got your call, Clint," she said softly, knowing that he'd want to know he'd helped them get there.

Clint glanced up at Jean and gave her a tight smile. "Oh, good," he said. "Logan gave me … he gave it to me."

"You did great, kiddo," Logan rumbled out.

Clint turned Logan's way and then started to nod. "I fought those guys, too," he said. "I broke a guy's knee, and I screwed up someone's elbow and another guy's shoulder and I bit a few hands and — and I did all the things you told me to. I even cried on 'em, but they're evil, so I ... I didn't stop 'em," he added softly.

"They took her down," Logan said gently. "Doesn't matter how bad you are; someone can take you down on the right terms."

"She was ... they put darts in her while we were sleeping," Clint said, grabbing onto K a little tighter.

"S'okay," K muttered thickly.

"I'm real sorry, Mom," Clint said. "I tried ta not let anyone hurt you."

"Wasn't your fault," she said before she kissed his head. "And we got out."

"Mmhmm," he said, resting his head just below her chin until he started to drift off — exhausted from the long night and the adrenaline and everything that had happened. It wasn't until then that he felt safe, and with his mom there and holding him, he  _could_ , for the first time in almost twenty-four hours, relax enough to sleep.

K was starting to drift a bit, too, but she had the presence of mind to reach over with her free hand to take a hold of Logan's just to give him a little squeeze.

"Your room is waiting for you back home; no one will bother you," Jean said, trying hard not to smirk too hard Logan's way when this was still a very serious situation — even if the three of them snuggled in was the perfect picture.

"They rarely do," Logan replied.

"And Arrow's there too," Jean said, ignoring that remark. "He's pretty upset with you two gone, so … I'm sure he'll be attached too."

"He'll whine until he licks Clint half to death," Logan said.

"And Clint will love it," Jean said with a little smile before she got up and went to the front of the jet to sit with Scott — and give the ferals a little privacy, with Clint still asleep on K's shoulder.


	10. You Were Wrong, Dr. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clint is a mess of emotions - and understandably so.

 

Clint hadn't woken up as the little group transferred from the blackbird into the mansion, and he hadn't woken up when Logan had carried him down to their room. He hadn't woken up when Logan had put him down in K's bed, either — and the only indication he gave that he was even remotely affected by all the movement in his sleep was the fact that he curled up tighter to K once she and Logan climbed in bed as well.

K was nestled in between Clint and Logan as she started to drift off, too — since she had been in Sinister's clutches for longer, and the healing was starting to take its toll.

And Logan simply made sure that K was comfortable and stayed with both of them, knowing that just because they were both exhausted enough to fall asleep didn't mean there wasn't still going to be a lot to clean up after this mess.

Eventually, Logan fell asleep too, but of course, that was about when Clint woke up again — not because he'd slept off the rough night but because he'd started to make little whimpering noises in his sleep, and then his eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright in a panic.

He was climbing out of the bed before he was even fully awake, almost shaking from how upset he was, and he only paused when Logan asked in a quiet rumble where he was going.

Clint paused and bit his lip as he looked back at Logan. "I… I need to find Rachel," he whispered.

Logan frowned at that, but he wasn't about to stop Clint either — not when he could smell the sharp tang of fear in the room, and not when he knew who'd had Clint and K. And it was the middle of the day, so it wasn't like Clint would be waking anyone up.

When Clint saw that Logan wasn't going to stop him, he didn't hesitate to rush out the door, intent on finding Rachel — or at least one of her parents so that he could make sure she was okay.

He did eventually find Jean at least, talking easily with Storm in the living room — though both women stopped when they saw the upset little boy in the doorway and turned his way. "Clint, are you alright?" Storm asked, the concern obvious in her tone.

Clint paused, his chest still heaving from running, before he bit his lip and shook his head. He started to raise his hands to sign — that was still his default language when he was upset — but paused and decided better of it before he asked Jean, very softly, "Is Rachel okay?"

Jean was surprised by the question at first, but when she looked into Clint's mind and saw the nightmare he'd had — that he was right back with Sinister and that Rachel and Jean had both been there too, and so had Barney and Jan — she rushed over to close the gap between them and pull Clint into a hug. "She's fine, Clint. She's with Scott. We're all fine, alright?"

Clint nodded and tried to hide the way his breath hitched just the slightest bit as he clutched onto Jean. She could hear everything he was projecting without meaning to — the panic and the fear and the confusion and the overwhelming protective drive all merging into a mess of emotions that made it hard for him to think straight.

Not that Jean blamed him. Dealing with Sinister… that wasn't something anyone his age should have ever had to deal with.

When Clint kept hanging onto Jean for dear life, she shifted so that she had pulled him down into a sitting hug so she wasn't as crouched over, and she gave him a soft kiss on his forehead. "I'm so sorry, Clint," she said. "I'm so sorry that happened to you and your mom."

Clint held onto her a little tighter for a moment before he took a deep breath that caught a few times, though Jean pretended for the sake of Clint's pride that she didn't hear that. "I… I just don't want him to touch anyone," he whispered, almost too softly for her to catch.

"I know," Jean said, almost as softly. "I know exactly how you feel, because I'm absolutely furious that he got to you and your mom."

Clint glanced up at her and gave her a quiet smirk. "But your hair's not on fire like it was when  _you_ got grabbed," he pointed out.

Jean couldn't help but smirk at that. "I try not to let my hair catch on fire if I can help it," she teased lightly. "It makes it hard to do this," she added, and then pulled him over to pepper his cheek with little kisses until he was half pushing her off with a moaned, "Jeeeeeean!"

Jean grinned. "I can't help it!"

"Well, try a little harder," Clint grumbled, though he at least didn't look like the world was falling down anymore, so Jean privately counted it as a win anyway.

Jean smirked at him and brushed his bangs back. "Sorry, can't. I just love you too much."

Clint rolled his eyes at that, but instead of arguing it as Jean expected, he surprised her by going in for a hug — not that she was going to complain about that. "You're weird, Jean."

She laughed at that before she pulled him to his feet. "So, are you going to hang out with us for a while or go back to sleep?" she asked, knowing he had to be pretty tired still after not getting any sleep the night before — not to mention he had to be worn from blood loss and everything else that came with a visit with Sinister.

Clint shrugged. "I dunno," he admitted.

"Well, why don't I take you upstairs and you can decide if you're going to curl up or if you want to just spend a lazy day with Arrow and a movie or something?"

"I can go myself," Clint said quickly. "You were talking with Storm…"

"I don't mind," Storm promised — which at least got a tentative sort of smile out of Clint before he and Jean headed upstairs.

And the whole time, Jean wasn't exactly trying to hide that she was peeking into Clint's head. Normally, she tried to give him a little privacy because of how rocky his introduction to the team had been, but with something like this, she wanted to know — and she wanted to have as much information as she could so that she could  _help_ him, too.

When they got up to K's room, Jean had to put one hand over her mouth to hide the  _wide_ grin when she saw how neatly K was tucked into Logan. There wasn't any space between them if Clint had wanted to get in there — and Jean knew without even needing to peek how  _big_ that was as a show of trust.

Clint tipped his head when he saw the two of them all curled up and then let out a long sigh. "They do this  _all the time_ ," he confided in Jean — though she was still peeking, so she could see that he also knew it meant his mom trusted Logan. And that was a big help to  _him_ , too.

Jean smirked at that and then ruffled Clint's hair. "So, naptime's out for you?" she teased.

Clint rolled his eyes. "I'll just grab Arrow. Mom says his job's to be an oversized footwarmer anyway."

Jean had to laugh at that. "She's not entirely wrong."

Clint gave her a little smile and a short hug before he headed off, leaving Jean to her thoughts — most of which revolved around how relieved she was to see that Clint and K were back and how  _glad_ she was to see that K and Logan were so obviously relying on each other for comfort. It was healthy and good, and exactly what she wanted for her friend.

Now if she could just get a certain overly interested geneticist to leave her family and Logan's alone, it would be perfect.

* * *

By the time the little family in K's room got around to such pedestrian things as being awake, it was close to dinnertime — and that was actually what woke them up. Even Clint could easily smell the food that someone was bringing up the stairs for them, which was enough to get him to the door to let their visitor in, since he knew his mom and Logan were  _really_ comfortable and probably didn't want to move at all.

"Oh, hi, Doctor Blue," Clint said with a small smile as he opened the door a bit wider to let Hank come in — with a few bags of food that seemed to Clint like a lot more than just dinner, but then, Logan and K needed to eat to make up the healing, too.

"Hello, Clint," Hank said with a warm smile. "I trust you've been taking full advantage of this lazy day?"

Clint nodded. "Yeah. Kitty came and got Arrow so he could go for a walk and stuff."

"For entirely unselfish reasons, I'm sure," Hank said with a twinkle in his eye that had Clint smirking slightly and nodding.

"Uh-huh, sure," Clint said with a smirk. "We'll go with that."

Hank smirked at that before he set down a couple bags of food by Logan and K and then handed Clint the smallest one — which had a cheeseburger and fries and a shake in it. "Most of the mansion is ordering out today. Mercifully, Bobby did  _not_ manage to burn the entire school down in his attempts to cook, but the results were inedible all the same."

"How come you let him do it, then?" Clint asked as he unwrapped his burger and tore into it, suddenly realizing just how hungry he was in addition to being tired.

"Only a vain hope that he might, at some point, get better with practice," Hank said in a sigh.

"It's an excuse to order out," Logan corrected. "When we're not headed down to Harry's."

"Yes, well, there is that," Hank said with a little laugh.

"I think it's a great excuse," Clint said, dipping a few of his fries into his milkshake. "Besides, Barney hates getting greasy food, so I like to get it in the summers when he ain't here."

Hank smiled at that. "A little firebird may have told me as much."

"Jean says she tries real hard  _not_ to be a firebird," Clint said around the cheeseburger in his mouth.

"It's a lot harder when she gets ticked off," Logan told him.

"That's what she said. She said she was real mad, and I told her her hair wasn't on fire," Clint said. "And she said she tries to not do that."

Hank smirked at that as he sat down next to Clint. "And how are you doing? I'm sure a little rest and grease hits the spot."

Clint shrugged quietly into his burger. "M'okay."

"Is there something you're looking for?" K asked softly, still pretty well tucked into Logan.

Hank smirked her way. "I know the remedy for anyone healing from Sinister's so-called 'studies'," he said. "But I wanted to be sure my third patient is healing nicely as well."

"M'fine," Clint muttered again.

"I'm sure you are," Hank said. "Still, I—"

"No," Clint said, stopping Hank short. His eyes were wide, and he'd put his food down. "No, don't... "

K frowned as she looked between Hank and Clint and straightened up slightly. "You can try again later for him," she said. "But if you need some blood from me …" K pulled off the flannel shirt she'd stolen from Logan. "... tap's open."

Hank frowned for a moment toward Clint, who still looked like he was ready to bolt, before he let his shoulders drop and turned K's way. He knew K wasn't at all as laid-back about this as she was trying to project to Clint, but he appreciated what she was doing to ease the boy's mind, too. "I'll be quick," he promised, his body language open and relaxed too — he was well-aware Clint was watching.

Still, it was plain to Hank that K was tense as he did his work, and he had to hide his frown before he gave Clint a quiet smile as he put his supplies away. "See? Nothing to be worried about."

Clint swallowed hard and glanced toward K before he sort of nodded. "Yeah, I just… I just don't want to do that," he said quietly. mmhmm

"You don't have to," K said. "I just want to make sure nothing was  _changed_."

Clint stared at K for a moment before he turned to Hank, looking much more upset than before. "Does he do that? Does he change stuff?" he asked.

"He does," Logan admitted, though he looked irritated about it.

"How are you gonna know if he did, though?" Clint asked, his gaze locked onto Hank. "Because… because you didn't get it right about me bein' human, so ... so how you gonna know?"

The two men in the room looked surprised at that, but Hank was quicker to recover. "What is it, exactly, that he said?"

Clint bit his lip as he looked between them. "Well, he said… he said I ain't human, but not a mutant either. Which… which is weird, right?"

"It isn't exactly  _normal_ , but there are always individual variations," Hank said. "But I have to admit, Clint ... I didn't exactly delve very deeply into your genes. The test I used only showed if there was an active 'X-gene'."

"So you got it wrong," Clint said. "He said I got one of those. But… but a weird one. I dunno. He was muttering a lot about how it was in the wrong spot and I didn't understand, like, most of it. At all. Even the stuff I lip-read."

"Mister Sinister has far more sensitive genetic tests than I do," Hank admitted. "All that tells me is that he was looking very hard to find something to keep studying with you."

Clint scrunched his shoulders up at that. "I dunno why. I'm nothin' special."

"I could say the same thing about me," K argued. "Stop that."

"But you are special!" Clint said. "You can heal and stuff and you've got all these people after you because you're that amazing!"

"Well I happen to think you're pretty amazing too," K said. "And that's not a mom line. That's the truth."

Clint gave her a look before he shrugged. "Yeah, well, I wish I didn't have it," he muttered. "Maybe he'd just go away."

"Don't work like that, kiddo," Logan said quietly.

"He  _would_ ," Clint said, almost defensively. "You said he only cares about mutants!"

"And anything that's outside of the norm," Logan replied. "He's a geneticist. That's what they do."

"He's a supervillain and he's evil and crazy and I wanna put a quiver of arrows in his face," Clint grumbled — though the complaining seemed to be helping, as Hank sat down beside him and gently addressed the wraps he'd put on Clint while he was asleep in the blackbird.

"I won't argue that," Logan agreed.

"Well, good," Clint said, though his tone was a bit more distracted with Hank sitting right there, and he bit his lip and then simply held his breath and closed his eyes until Hank was done. The hardest part, of course, was when Hank took a moment to get a little blood — but as Hank explained, he wanted to know what it was that Sinister had found so he could also know for himself if anything was changed.

"Thank you, Clint," Hank said gently. "I know you truly wanted nothing more to do with any tests — and I'll endeavor not to bother you with them any time soon."

"Uh-huh," Clint said without moving.

"Yes, well," Hank said softly as he quickly gathered up his things. "I'm sure that you'll find that Jean has been working on no-bake cookies for the past hour. Perhaps she'll have them mastered by the time you decide to leave the suite."

"Thanks, Henry," K said with a forced smile. "I know this has to be the worst part of your job." She untangled herself from Logan and made her way over to give him a solid bear hug. "We know you're not the bad guy in  _any_ story."

Hank was surprised by the hug for a moment before he returned it with a more honest smile. "Yes, well, I know it's difficult to tell the difference between myself and an overly puffed up vampiric gentleman with century-old fashion sense," he teased lightly.

"The urge to hug you is far stronger than the urge to even be in the same zip code as him," K agreed.

"My dear, that's not a high bar to pass," Hank said. "No one with any self-preservation instincts can tolerate his presence."

"And no one with a soul can miss giving you a hug," K pointed out. "Thank you — again. For the dinner … and the solid excuse to just stay tucked away. I really do appreciate it."

"Try not to need my dinner-in-bed services again, my dear," Hank said with a warm smile. "I appreciate your company far too much to see you laid up."

"It's something I try desperately to avoid," she agreed before she left Hank to finish gathering up his things on her way to get back into bed.

Hank was smiling to himself as he slipped out the door — it had clearly done him good to hear what K had to say — but the door had hardly even shut behind him before Clint bolted. Not, surprisingly, to K, but straight to Logan, almost smacking into him for how quickly — and how hard — he attached.

"You sure you're alright, kiddo?" Logan asked, though he was also very careful to wrap Clint up too.

Clint took a second to bury his face in Logan's shoulder, so the way Logan knew he was nodding was that he could feel it as Clint's head moved. "Uh-huh," he muttered. "I'm okay."

"You wanna hit somethin'?"

"I dunno. Maybe," Clint said, then finally glanced at Logan. "I'm trying to be okay, okay? I don't mean to — I wasn't  _trying_ to—"

"Hey," Logan said gently. "It's okay."

Clint let out a breath and hid his face again. "It's not," he said softly. "They hurt Mom and you and—"

"And you," Logan said. "We heal. We were okay before … well. Before your mom tore him a new one."

Clint smirked at that. "No one can stop my mom."

"I don't like it when idiots screw with my guys," K said as she reached over to brush Clint's hair out of his face. "Sweet duck fluff."

"I'll let you call me that this time 'cause I know you got hurt," Clint said, getting back some of his usual teasing smile.

"But I  _love_ your duck fluff," she said with a little smile.

"I know, 'cause you're  _weird_ ," he said, letting go of Logan so he could turn her way and stick out his tongue at her.

"I think you secretly like it when I talk about your fluff,  _quack quack_."

" _Mom_." Clint looked almost scandalized. "You can't  _quack_ at me!"

"I think I just did," K said, sure to tip her chin up with a smirk. "Quack."

"Mom, no," Clint said, the perfect picture of an embarrassed kid as he dragged his hands over his face. "Just… just no."

"Would you feel better at the tower?" K asked.

"I dunno," Clint said, then glanced over at Logan. "Where ... are you gonna be here or the tower?" he asked. He was trying to play it off like the questions weren't related, but it was pretty clear he wanted to be wherever Logan was.

"I'm supposed to teach here when the semester starts on Monday," Logan said. "If I backed out on Slim now, he'd probably drop."

Clint nodded slowly. "Well, you ... you should not do that because I think Rachel needs her dad," he decided. "So… we'll stay here. If that's okay."

"Of course it is," Logan said. "You got your room still, don't you? It's fine."

"Good." Clint took a deep breath and then sat back down with his shake. "We can play with Arrow. He likes it here a lot because he can run around a lot with Kitty and stuff."

"And he likes followin' your mom on the trails," Logan agreed.

"Yeah, he sticks to us 'cause he's a good guard dog," Clint said with a smile. "Not  _just_ a foot warmer.  _Mom_."

"He's a fuzzy footwarmer," K argued. "And you're my sweet little  _quack_."

Clint rolled his eyes and turned toward Logan. "She's just… she's just like this."

"Want me to make 'er stop?" Logan asked.

Clint looked between the two of them and winced, knowing exactly how Logan would 'stop' her. "Ewww. I'll just take my milkshake outside if you're gonna kiss 'er."

"You'd leave me here with him bein' all kissy kissy, tweet wil' duck fluff?" K teased.

Clint stuck his tongue out. "And — and I hope you get a  _baby_ ," he shot back — because he knew it would irk her.

"I'll name him Francis so you match," she shot back. "And tell him you picked it out."

Clint shook his head quickly. "That's mean, Mom! You can't give someone a name like that. My dad already did that horrible thing!"

"What about Toivo?"

"Why you gotta be like this, Mom?" Clint asked, shaking his head.

"Because you like it. Clyde? Eduardo? Frrrrrrrrrancisco?"

"I'm just gonna go outside and let you an' Logan kiss and make a baby — and I hope it's a  _girl_ so you can name her something normal!" Clint shot back, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Francine."

"You're so mean, Mom," Clint called over his shoulder, though he was almost grinning as he slipped out the door.

K was smirking to herself as Clint left, and it didn't take long to settle in before Logan did lean over to kiss her into the pillows. He really didn't seem to have any trouble honestly getting carried away — until, of course, she pushed him back by the shoulders. "Hey. You  _do_ know he was being a little shit, right? It's a joke."

"Every joke has a little truth," Logan had to tease, but that just ended up with a hard shove before she smacked him with a pillow.

"You. Are not. Funny, you  _hunyak_ ," she said through her teeth — hitting him with every word until he got the pillow away from her and started up kissing her again.

Which was funny enough on its own — but further in the house, Jean was busting up laughing. She couldn't 'hear' the ferals very well, but she had overheard Clint's thoughts and the teasing going back and forth, and she was  _very_ entertained.

"What's got you so tickled?" Scott asked with a smirk as he played with Rachel.

Jean smirked. "Oh, just Clint and K dealing with things by being  _them_."

"Oh, yeah, that would be entertaining," Scott said with a smirk.

"And I think we should definitely follow their lead."

Scott paused and then gave her a look. "We are  _not_ —"

"Oh, just because it's  _Logan_ —"

"Jean." Scott shook his head and then leaned over to kiss her. "That's not what I said."

"Then stop saying it," Jean shot back, though by that time, Rachel was giggling and clapping before Jean stole another kiss just for good measure — and to get the point across.


	11. Righteous Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a couple Avengers are ready to tear the world apart for Clint if need be.

 

* * *

 

It didn't take long for the Avengers to hear about what had happened with Sinister — if for no other reason than that they needed to know why Clint and K hadn't come back to the Tower. And to say that Steve was furious was putting it mildly.

He wasted no time that afternoon getting down to the institute. He knew he wasn't going to get much in the way of answers from Logan — not just because the man was notorious for giving briefings that barely qualified as a paragraph but because he'd put himself on the line as well and was likely taking the time to heal. So instead, Steve went to Scott. After all, the man had been dealing with Sinister since he was a kid, if Steve understood Logan correctly.

One of the students — Jubilee — answered the door, and when Steve asked for Scott, she directed him to the living room. "If you're here for baby snuggles, Rachel's crawling and attaching to anyone she can reach, so…"

Steve almost smirked at that. "Good to know," he said.

Scott stood up from the couch where he had been talking with his wife and daughter when Steve entered the room — something Steve thought might not be entirely conscious — and then crossed the room to greet him. "What can I do for you?" he asked — obviously not expecting to have Captain America in his home.

"I need you to help me coordinate our teams to go after this Sinister… person," Steve said. He wasn't going to mince words about it, and he knew from the past few times he'd worked with Scott — on adoption papers and on setting up a better dialogue between their two teams — that Scott appreciated a more direct approach anyway.

Still, Scott looked stunned when he heard it -—even with the glasses hiding much of his expression. "Come again?"

"This mad scientist that kidnapped Clint and K — and your entire family not too long ago, as Clint tells me," Steve said. "You have to know that's not something the Avengers are willing to let slide. I know he's been going after your team, but that doesn't mean he's only your problem."

Scott looked stunned for a second longer before he nodded lightly. "Right," he said. "I agree — I mean, I don't think he's exclusively our problem, and of course we'd appreciate any help we can get. It's just…" He smirked and rubbed the back of his neck. "This is still going to take some getting used to. The idea of the Avengers stepping into stuff like this."

"I'm only sorry we didn't step in sooner," Steve told him frankly. "If this is the kind of thing your team has been fighting back this whole time, then we've misunderstood the scope of the issues you've been facing." He shook his head. "That might be on us. I always assumed your team was more about basic rights and keeping mutants like Magneto from turning the world against you — any more than they already are. I didn't realize the lengths some people are going to in order to destroy or change mutants."

"To be fair, not even other mutants know about Sinister unless they've dealt with him themselves. He's been able to operate under the radar for years now because he's so selective about the people he 'studies'," Scott said, his jaw tightening along with his fists at that last word.

"Still," Steve said. "I want to help. This guy should never be allowed to touch anyone ever again,  _especially_ not the next generation." As he spoke, he gestured to Rachel, who was giggling as she escaped her mother's lap and tried to crawl toward the two men as they talked.

Scott glanced over his shoulder to the intrepid little girl and then nodded. "Yeah. I know."

"It's worse when it's personal, isn't it?" Steve asked gently.

For just an instant, Steve could see a muscle working in Scott's jaw as he thought of everything he'd been through with Sinister — and then Scott simply let out a breath and nodded. "It always is," he said and then turned his attention back to Steve. "The problem is: we don't know where to look," he admitted. "If we did, that's where we would be. But Sinister has the ability to leave his body; he has duplicates hidden away that he can pour his mind into. When K got off the examination table swinging, she killed that body — but he was already in another one, and we have no idea where that other body might have been."

"So it doesn't have to be close by?"

Scott shook his head. "Not anymore. He's … adept at taking new powers and figuring out how to push them as far as they can go."

Steve frowned at that. He'd known, of course, that there were likely complications. After all, he couldn't imagine that the X-Men wouldn't go after this guy after he'd come after children. But he had no idea just how  _much_ of a dead end it was. "Is there any way you can track those transfers?"

"I wish there was," Scott said. "We have two of the most powerful telepaths in the world, but…" He trailed off and let the sentiment hang in the air.

"Well, now you have two of the most powerful telepaths in the world  _and_  an entire roster of Avengers," Steve said, putting a hand on Scott's shoulder.

"Thanks," Scott said. "I really do appreciate it."

"That's the whole point of what we do, right? If we can't help each other, what's the point?"

Scott smirked lightly at that and nodded. "I'm just sorry we don't have more for you. But if you find a lead — or if we do — I can promise you, no one here would say no to a joint effort to stop this guy. He's taken down our entire team on his own before. It would be nice to be able to finally turn the tables on him."

Steve's eyebrows shot up. "Your entire team?"

"Yeah." Scott's expression clearly said that he was  _not_ happy about it. "He's got just about every power we do, and he's dedicated his life to figuring out how to make that more potent, how to make it work for  _him_."

Steve let out a low whistle at that. "That's—"

"Yeah." Scott shook his head slowly. "Anyway, thanks for the offer. I promise we'll let you know if we get any leads."

Steve nodded. "If you don't mind, I wanted to talk to Hank while I was here, get his perspective on the guy." He held up a hand. "I know he's been hounding you and your team, but you and I know Hank knows the science here."

Scott nodded. "Might be a good idea," he said. "Your team won't have to worry about it except when you have mutants in the field with you — and even then, he tries to keep to himself and take his 'subjects' more quietly."

"So I gathered from his attack on K and Clint."

"He's a coward."

"On that, we can agree," Steve said.

Steve was still angry as he thought over everything he knew about this Sinister character on the way down to the labs. It seemed the more he learned, the more he wanted to take the man's head off.

"Ah, the good captain," Hank called out when he saw Steve come into his lab. "What can I do for you today, my friend?"

"I was hoping for a little clarity," Steve admitted. "I know K and Clint were kidnapped by Sinister, and I know he studies mutants — or says he does — but—"

"But you had hoped to ask my opinion on the matter," Hank surmised, his warm smile gone as he gestured for Steve to take a seat. "I'm afraid much of what I can tell you, you already know. He studies the genetics of mutants and seems to take a particular liking to those with powers he deems either interesting or more, well, powerful than others."

"Thus his interest in Scott and Logan."

"Indeed." Hank paused. "And Clint."

Steve's eyebrows shot up at that, and he found himself unconsciously leaning forward. "I thought you said—"

"It seems I was mistaken," Hank admitted. "Though in fairness to myself, the only way I would have known to look for this particular genetic anomaly would be through far more intrusive tests than the basic ones I ran for the Barton boys." He waved Steve over to where he had the records of what he'd found after he looked Clint over following the Sinister attack. "You see, Clint  _does_ possess an X-gene. However, most scans will not register him as mutant, because he has managed to find himself with an X-gene on a different chromosome."

Steve frowned, leaning closer to the readout. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Hank admitted. "I don't know if the gene will be expressed — and if it is, I have no way of predicting in what way. That's the case for most mutants, of course, but with Clint, it will be interesting to say the least. All mutation is random, and in a period of time in which the human race is rapidly mutating and evolving, I suppose it's only natural that something like this would come up. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything like it before."

Steve nodded thoughtfully. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"As is always the case in matters like this," Hank agreed. He let out a long breath and shook his head. "You should know, of course, that Mr. Sinister is aware of everything I've told you. He'll be watching to see how this gene presents itself. We'll need to be vigilant when he enters puberty. And I wouldn't mind having a look at Barney's genetics again — to check for a similar anomaly."

"Yeah, if that kid's in trouble too…" Steve shook his head. "And what about Rachel?"

"Ah, well, I'm afraid I can't give you a good timeframe for when to be watchful in that case," Hank admitted, though his eyes were flashing. "Mr. Sinister has always been interested in that family, and it seems sometimes that he simply arrives to remind our dear friends that he has the capacity to disrupt their lives and bring them misery any time he wishes."

"I don't know how you can stand it, Hank," Steve said, the anger obvious in his tone.

Hank raised a single eyebrow. "I don't know what makes you think I  _stand it_ ," he replied calmly. "Quite the opposite. If I could tear the man apart with my bare hands, I wouldn't hesitate."

Steve recognized the tone and let out a breath, shaking his head. "Right. Of course."

Hank smiled at his old friend and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Now then," he said. "Let's not talk about terrible things. I'm sure we can find something else to occupy our attention. And if you insist on worrying, might I suggest that you turn your attention to the young man himself? He has been uncharacteristically quiet lately — not that anyone could blame him. I wouldn't doubt that an encouraging word might be just the thing to cheer him up."

"I wanted to check on them while I was here anyway," Steve admitted. "I know Logan went through the wringer on their behalf, and all of that had to be traumatizing in itself."

"You have no idea," Hank said in a sigh. "I'm afraid you'd be best served visiting on your own. The last time I visited the three of them, it was in my role as a physician, and you can imagine the reception."

Steve frowned at that and reached over to rest a hand on Hank's shoulder. "You know no one —  _no one_ — thinks of you that way."

"I'm well-aware," Hank assured his friend. "But I'm also well-aware of how a traumatized person reacts to situations similar to the ones that caused their trauma. It's perfectly understandable."

"Still—"

"And lest you worry overmuch, you should know it was K who made sure that distinction was made clear when I came to check on them. I'm confident in her ability to help Clint to work through this." Hank smiled. "As difficult as this part of my profession is — and always will be as long as villains like Sinister continue to besmirch the good name of the rest of us geneticists — I know better than to compare myself to that miscreant."

"Well said."

Hank smirked lightly before it was his turn to put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Now then, you should really see Clint before you go. If he were to hear that you came by and didn't at least say hi, he'd take it personally, I'm sure."

Steve chuckled. "Not as personally as he'd take it if it was his favorite Avenger."

"As I understand it, Logan currently holds that title."

"I thought it was Jan," Steve said, one eyebrow raised.

Hank chuckled. "Ah, yes. Well. That may be true, admittedly. But at the moment, you'd be hard-pressed to find Clint anywhere that he cannot see Logan." His smile dropped, and he looked far more serious as he added, "Logan allowed himself to be used in trade for the two of them — but Clint was there through it all. And I wouldn't doubt that he feels both grateful to and protective of Logan at the moment."

Steve's jaw was set all over again when he heard it. "The more I hear about how this went down…"

"Yes," Hank said, agreeing to the sentiment before Steve could properly form it. "We all feel that way, to be quite honest with you. Each time we think the villain can go no lower…"

"Yeah, I know that song and dance."

"All too well," Hank agreed.

Steve nodded at that, and the two of them made their way upstairs — where Steve somehow wasn't surprised to find that Clint was using Arrow once more as a sort of security blanket, keeping the dog close. Not that Arrow seemed to mind. The dog had what seemed to be an innate sense for when Clint was hurting, and he was lying on Clint's feet and giving the kid as much attention as Clint was giving him.

Steve had to smile when he saw it. It was a little easier to think that Clint would, in fact, be alright when he had the kid in front of him — and not just reports of all the crap that had gone down.

"Hey, Clint," he called out. "Mind if I steal your dog to play fetch?"

Clint glanced up at the sound of Steve's voice and then broke into a smile. "Only if I can play too."

"Always."


	12. K-I-S-S-I-N-G

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Barney comes back to the mansion.

 

* * *

For several weeks after their encounter with Sinister, K and Clint made it a point to lie low. Neither of them were anxious for a repeat performance — and neither were the Avengers and X-Men, who seemed to be making it a point to look out for them a little closer than usual.

But when a couple months had passed without incident, Clint had finally started to relax — especially when he knew the end of the circus season was just around the corner.

Usually, that would mean a trip to the circus for their last performance, but this time around, Miranda and Paul had surprised K by calling ahead to ask if they could drop Barney off for the winter themselves.

It made sense when Clint thought about it. After all, Miranda and Paul had never seen the mansion before, and it seemed like they really did care about Barney — so they'd want to know more about where it was he ran off to every off-season.

Still, Clint wasn't as interested in showing anyone around as he was in tackling his brother — who was now a few inches taller and looking a lot more like a healthy twelve-year-old should look, as opposed to the skinny little boy that K had first met. And it was pretty obvious she was glad to see him  _growing_ so well, too.

Miranda and Paul both took a moment to look around the mansion in obvious surprise at the  _size_ of it — and the fact that Barney seemed to be right at home as he rushed over to Clint so they could catch up on everything they'd missed in their time apart.

"I thought Barney was exaggerating," Paul said, one eyebrow raised.

Barney grinned over his shoulder at Paul. "Toldja it was a cool place!"

"You sure did," Miranda said, unable to hide her laugh as she threaded her arm through Paul's and they headed up to the institute behind the two chatting boys.

It was clear that the Barton boys were too caught up in their own little conversation to do anything like a tour, but that almost wasn't necessary anyway — not when Jean was so pleased to see the other half of Barney's family coming to see him off personally.

Jean met them in the doorway with a twinkle in her eye, and before either of them could get their feet underneath them, they were swept off to the full tour — while Rachel, on the other hand, approached Barney carefully and curiously once the boys were settled in the living room with Arrow. After all, Rachel wasn't old enough to remember Barney having been around when she was only a few months old, but he looked and sounded enough like clint that it was obvious she wanted to investigate.

"Hey, Rachel," Barney said, giving her a little wave, though the little girl only raised an eyebrow in response.

When Rachel didn't move any closer, Clint laughed and held his arms out for a hug, and she took a few toddling steps before she fell over and then scooted the rest of the way over to hug Clint. She looked over her shoulder at Barney, who was scratching Arrow behind the ears.

"That's my brother, Rachel," Clint explained. "His name is Barney, and I love him." He waved to Barney. "Can you say 'hi'?"

Rachel studied Barney for a long moment before, hesitantly, she held out her hand and opened and closed her fists in the best wave she could do for him.

Barney gave her a bright smile and waved back. "Hiya."

Rachel giggled and hid in Clint's hug again, and Clint shrugged. "She's shy sometimes, huh, Rachel?" he said, looking down at his friend, though Rachel was pretty well latched on, so she didn't say anything.

It was definitely a sweet scene to walk into when Paul and Miranda had finished their tour with Jean. Rachel had finally started to warm up to Barney — that much was clear from the fact that she kept tapping him with her closed fist until he would turn and give her a fist bump. And then she'd positively fall apart giggling.

Jean smiled as she crossed to the middle of the room and crouched down beside Rachel, holding her arms out so her little girl could make her way over to get snuggles from her mom. "Have you been having fun with Clint and Barney?"

Rachel giggled and grinned up at Jean for an answer, though Jean could read in her little girl's thoughts just how much fun she  _had_ , in fact, been having.

"Aren't too many younger kids around here," Paul observed.

Jean shook her head. "We get one or two sometimes — kids with physical mutations that cause issues for them before they're even old enough to understand it. But for the most part, we get kids after they hit puberty."

"It's okay," Clint said, grinning up at Paul. "I can keep up."

"Of course you can," Paul said, ruffling Clint's hair. "The way Barney tells it, you run the place anyway."

Clint glanced toward Barney, who shrugged with both palms out and upturned. "Well, it's true."

Clint laughed and shook his head. "I don't  _really_. Barn's just being a big brother."

"That's what he's supposed to do," Miranda said with a smile as she sat down to watch the boys and Rachel and Jean together with a contented sort of smile.

 _I'm sure they'll be this amazing when you two have your own,_ Jean projected to her.  _They're protective boys, and you're part of their family._

Miranda startled a bit at the telepathic touch, but when she looked up to see Jean smiling at her, she couldn't help but smirk as she concentrated on projecting back to her.  _We haven't been married for that long._

 _Oh, I know,_ Jean replied.  _But you're projecting very loudly right now how much you can't wait to see Barney and Clint playing with your_ own  _little one._ She gestured at Rachel, who was starting to get a little fussy until Jean pulled out some little vegetable sticks that she could hold in both of her chubby hands and nibble on to her heart's content.  _Believe me: those two boys have already been the best big brothers to my little girl._

 _I don't doubt it,_ Miranda replied.  _And Paul would love to have a little one right away. But I'm not in a rush. We're not trying_ not  _to have them, mind you._

_And you're starting to come around to the idea of more actively trying._

_When I see things like this?_ Miranda raised an eyebrow.  _It's impossible not to._

 _I know,_ Jean said with a smile.  _My husband already caught me thinking about the next one._

_The way Clint and Barney tell it, the two of you have been that way since they met you._

Jean shook her head, though she couldn't quite hide the flush to her cheeks.  _We… Scott and I … we've always wanted a family…_

Miranda smiled her way warmly.  _It's alright. It's obvious you're happy. That's what matters._

Jean smiled, but before she could say anything else, Clint interrupted: "I know you two're talking in your heads. C'mon, Jean. You're still  _so bad at this_."

Jean had to laugh at that. "I wasn't trying to  _hide_ it, Clint!"

"So you can just talk out loud," Clint pointed out.

Miranda chuckled. "I see you haven't changed at all."

Clint shrugged. "Why would I? I like me."

Miranda and Jean couldn't help but share little smiles over the top of the kids' heads. They both knew what a big deal it was for Clint to say something like that, especially since when they first met the little boy, he was all bluster but very little  _real_ confidence.

"I like you too," Miranda said with a smile.

"That's why you came to see where I live, huh?"

"Exactly." Miranda leaned over to tap the end of Clint's nose. "That and Barney said there was something to eat here that wasn't fried."

"Barney always thinks with his stomach," Clint said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, you're in luck," Jean said with a smile. "Logan is cooking tonight — and that usually means something good."

"I like when Logan cooks," Barney said, grinning a little wider. "We had some venison at K's cottage last Christmas, and it was  _amazing_."

Clint grinned and leaned over to Miranda to whisper, "I think Barney's more excited about Logan being our step-dad than I am."

Miranda ruffled his hair. "Why's that?"

"I dunno. I mean, I think he's pretty great as far as step-dads go, and I know he's gonna take care of me and my family. I just think Barney is just…" He shrugged. "Barney."

"I think Barney is spoiled," Miranda teased — which only seemed to get a huff out of Barney nearby. "He gets to have all the fun during the circus season and then come stay with you during the holidays. Best of both worlds!"

Clint grinned wider when he saw the look Barney had on at the insinuation that he was spoiled. "Oh yeah. That's totally it."

Miranda grinned and tapped him lightly on the end of the nose before she got up to go find Paul — who had at some point gotten wrapped up in conversation with Kurt about his old circus days.

"I told Paul and Miranda that I'd let them know when your mom gets married," Barney said once the adults had left.

Clint raised his eyebrows at that. "You did?"

Barney nodded. "Well, K got to see my circus parents get married, so I think my circus parents should see my hero parents get married too."

Clint giggled. "I like the way you did that. Circus parents and hero parents."

Barney shrugged openly. "Hey, it works. We have a weird family, and it's hard to give 'em names."

"Yeah," Clint said, nodding along. "I'm still not sure I can call Logan 'Dad'."

Barney shook his head. "Yeah… remember when Mr. Jackson tried to make us call him 'Dad'?"

"And hit us if we didn't?" Clint scrunched up his nose and shook his head. "Yeah, Logan's not like that."

"No, I wasn't saying he was," Barney clarified, holding both hands up. "I was actually saying… you're pretty lucky you got one who's  _not_  like that."

"And you got  _two_ sets like that," Clint said with a smile.

"Yeah, well, Miranda caught me kissing Ana…"

Clint laughed outright at that, leaning forward with trouble in his gaze. "What did she do?"

"Told me if I kept going, she wasn't going to stand in between me and Ana'a dad if I got her knocked up," Barney said, though he was incredibly red-faced.

"Barney!"

"I  _didn't_ ," Barney said, his eyes wide. "We were only  _kissing_. Geez, Clint. Give me some credit!"

"Does my mom know?"

" _No_ ," Barney said. "And you can't tell her, or she'll never let me live it down!"

"Well, you said you were  _just_ kissing…"

"Yeah, but we're not, like,  _serious_ or anything," Barney said. "We're not even gonna see each other for a long time, and we're not, like, in love."

"I think you are," Clint sang out — loudly. "I think you  _love_ her!"

"Clint!"

Clint broke into an even more troublemaking smile before he dashed out of the room, singing at the top of his lungs: "Ana and Barney sitting in a tree!"

Which was how the X-Men found themselves listening to the crashing and laughing sounds of two boys chasing and teasing each other all the way through the mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a bit shorter than usual, but we're getting ready for a wedding and that's a whole separate chapter from the homecoming.
> 
> Also, semi-related, I (mags) have been super busy putting out a new book about my own struggle with infertility and hurtling toward one day adopting (hopefully someone as sweet as the Barton boys!). It's called "We Still Don't Have a Miracle Baby" and it SO comes with a 'you will cry' warning lol.


	13. Making it Official

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Logan and K finally get married, yay!

 

* * *

No matter how much Jan and the others made it clear that they could hardly wait for the wedding now that Barney was there, it was still a couple months before Logan and K got around to it.

Mostly, they wanted to wait for the holidays — so that they could have their wedding just before Thanksgiving and then get away with the boys for not only that holiday but Logan's birthday and then Clint's.

Which was just fine with the boys, because it meant they got to get away to the cottage even earlier than usual, since that's where the wedding was — even if they did have to take some homework with them, since Barney's school schedule was so compressed.

But when the day finally came, it was hard to tell who was more excited: Jean or Jan. Jan was almost bouncing in place trying to keep from giggling every few seconds as she brought up the dress for K to change into. But on the other hand, Jean was helping the boys get dressed up, and she couldn't stop grinning either.

Barney was pretty excited as well, ready to do his bit. He and Clint would both be giving K away for the wedding, and since he'd already been through one set of parents getting married, he was far less nervous than Clint was.

Clint, on the other hand, seemed to be far more thoughtful that morning as Jean helped him put the corsage on his lapel. He wasn't cracking jokes, just… thinking.

He wasn't nervous about Logan and K getting married, either. It was just a big change, even if it wasn't. And he'd really,  _really_ been thinking. About everything. About how much his mom loved Logan and how nice Logan was to him and Barney and how he had come to rescue Clint twice in as many years from the worst trouble he had been in in his entire life.

"You okay, Clint?" Barney asked, bumping shoulders with his younger brother.

Clint nodded. "I'm okay," he promised. "I'm just thinking."

"Looks painful."

"Aww, shut up, Barney," Clint said, rolling his eyes — though Jean had to smirk to herself when she saw that it had, in fact, gotten Clint out of his head.

"Well, you both look amazing," Jean declared. "Let's go up and get your mom so you three can utterly destroy Logan."

"You're so weird, Jean," Clint said, shaking his head.

"I know," she said, ruffling his hair lightly.

The three of them made their way upstairs to where K was gamely allowing Jan to keep picking at her dress, brushing out nonexistent wrinkles and fussing over K generally.

"Hi guys," K said before she waited for Jan to turn her back — and then made a point out of scrunching up part of the dress just so Jan would have something to honestly  _do_. "What are we doing today? Video games and pillow fights?"

"Maybe tomorrow," Barney laughed.

"You look amazing, Mom," Clint said, his eyes wide.

"So do you, handsome," she said with a smile. "It's not too much? Did she go overboard?"

Clint shook his head. "No," he said quickly. "I think you look like a movie star."

"So she only went overboard by a cruise ship," K said, again scrunching it up in an odd spot to watch Jan nearly swear.

"You really do look amazing," Jean said with an honest smile.

"I'm sure," K said. "I have a team of professionals, right?"

"Exactly," Barney laughed before he darted over to hug K. "You ready?"

"I think I have to hit a little makeup first," K said. "But it should give you boys five minutes or so … let Jan give  _you_ another once-over."

"We don't  _need_ it," Clint said, even if he was self-consciously flattening his hair as he said it.

Jan laughed and slipped over to pat Clint's hair down and then boop him on the tip of the nose. "You look so handsome too, you know."

"He's always handsome," K said as she settled in to do the final touches, batting Jean's hand away from her as she did so.

"Me too," Barney put in.

"Naturally," she agreed. "And before we go, ladies, I think I need a minute with these two heartbreakers."

Jean and Jan shared a look and then smiled before they both stepped out, already giggling with each other as they went to go join the other guests for the wedding — both X-Men and Avengers.

K turned to face them, lipstick in hand. "Okay guys. Last chance. You can still say no."

The Barton boys glanced at each other and frowned. "But you love him," Clint pointed out.

"And he's definitely the best dad we've had," Barney put in. "I mean, I have Paul too, but still."

"And I want to be sure that you're both alright with it," K said.

The boys shared a look that said more than they even could out loud before both of them made a break for it and grabbed K to hug her.

"We're okay," Barney promised.

"We  _like_ Logan," Clint added.

"I know," K said. "But I also know there's been a lot of pressure on everyone, and I still need to be sure that you both are okay with this. Even with all this … big to-do ... I will call it if you're not both on board."

"Don't do that," Barney said quickly. "We're okay, honest."

"Yeah, we know you wouldn't marry him if you didn't like him," Clint added. He bit his lip. "And… and he keeps us safe. So I like staying with him."

"Sweetheart, I just need to check. That's all." She gave both of them a little smirk before she kissed each of their cheeks — and  _then_ quickly swiped her lipstick on.

"You can leave if  _you_ want, but we're okay," Barney clarified.

"If I didn't want to do this, we never would have gotten this far," K pointed out.

"Yeah, well, just sayin'."

"For the record, I would have been perfectly fine with just filing the paperwork," she said as she got to her feet. "But … low pressure didn't look like a thing that was going to happen with this crowd."

"Kurt's really excited to do the wedding," Clint giggled. "He's been doing that thing that acrobats do, y'know?"

"Act like a goober?" K asked.

"Uh-huh." Clint giggled and then gave K one more hug. "C'mon. Let's go do this thing so we can have the cottage to ourselves and have fun."

"Ah, we're not staying at the cottage," K said. "As I understand it, Logan has other plans on deck."

"Really?" Barney raised his eyebrows. "Like what?"

"Like … he said he'd like to take us to one of  _his_ places."

"Huh." Barney tipped his head to the side and shrugged. "Could be interesting."

"He said there was plenty of snow on the ground there already," she told him as she took Clint's hand in hers. "So … must be further  _north_."

"We'll build snowmen and go sledding and stuff," Clint told her with a grin.

"It'll be fun, I'm sure," K agreed as they started off. "Do you know where we're going, boys? I wasn't paying attention earlier."

"That's okay," Barney said. "I know how to get there."

"Follow the big brother," Clint teased.

It was a reasonably calm day on the big lake, so it was easy enough for the group to see when things got rolling. The little rock cliff near the creek that had a trickle of a waterfall was almost silent but for the tiny splashes on the rocks, but the view from where Kurt and Logan were standing was one that looked past their gathered friends and over the big lake. The sound of the waves lapping the shoreline was louder than the running water, but only just.

All around them, the trees were giving their final hurrah, and the bright yellow of the oak leaves was almost too much compared to the splashes of red, orange, and brown. But away from the waterfall, the forest was mercifully dry — the air echoing the crunching leaves underfoot of everyone that was there for the ceremony.

Of course, everyone's attention was drawn away from the scenery as the bride and her two boys made their way toward them, and to Clint's surprise, when they got to the end of their little walk, she  _didn't_ do them the disservice of planting a berry-red lip print on either of them.

Barney grinned and stepped back from K, but Clint paused for just a second and bit his lip, looking between Logan and K. "I… um… I'm glad you're gonna be my dad," he whispered to Logan — and then very quickly darted over to where Barney was to half hide. It had taken him all morning to try out the idea of what he'd say, but… he  _was_ glad to have Logan. And he felt like he needed to say something.

Logan gave Clint a warm smile but didn't draw any more attention to him — since it was pretty clear that he'd meant it to be private anyhow.

The ceremony was pretty straightforward and to the point, though when they got toward the end, it was pretty clear that it was going to be a little different by the way that Kurt was grinning.

At first, it was just what they expected, with Kurt prompting them to go through the vows, but before Kurt declared them husband and wife, he paused and looked to the boys. And with a steadily growing smile, he turned to Logan. "And," he said, both eyebrows raised, "do you swear to love and protect Clint and Barney Barton as long as they live?"

It was clear that the boys hadn't known Kurt was going to include them in the ceremony, but they couldn't help but grin all the same — prompting most of the guests' hearts to totally melt at their expressions.

"Absolutely," Logan replied, smirking as he kept K close to him.

Kurt smiled at that. "Then I pronounce you husband and wife — and children," he said. "Go ahead,  _mein Freund_. Kiss your bride."

Logan didn't wait for another prompting at that and pulled her into a long and involved kiss — totally ignoring their group of friends as they reacted behind them. And when the kiss broke at last, the guests broke into applause — and so did the boys.

"Kiss her again!" Barney called out — and laughed when Logan did just that.

Clint was shaking his head at his brother. "So, can we go to the cabin now or what?" he called out. "You're married now. Let's go!"

"Wait! Not yet," Kurt called out, looking alarmed. "There are still traditions that need to be upheld!"

"And the whole … cake thing," Jubilee said.

Clint grinned Jubilee's way. "Okay, well, cake is important."

"You got some weird priorities, kiddo," Logan said.

"Hey, sledding and cake. Pretty sure that's the good life!"

Logan paused like he was going to say something, but then he thought better of it — especially when Kurt burst out with a near laugh. "Oh. That will change soon enough, I'm very sure," Kurt said.

Clint stuck his tongue out at Kurt. "Never ever."

"We'll see," Kurt said, grinning wider.

"You got the wrong Barton brother.  _Barney's_ the one tryna flirt with Kitty even when he's got a girl in the circus!" Clint said, hands on his hips.

"Kitty's flirting back," K called out to him.

"I kno-o-o-ow," Clint sang out, grinning at Barney, who was almost purple he was blushing so hard.

"Let's get the Elf's stupid crap over with so we can go," Logan said in a low rumble toward the boys.

"He's prolly gonna cry," Clint whispered back.

"His problem," Logan said with a smirk. "And he's got plenty of pretty girls to dance with."

"So does Barney," Clint whispered.

"Then he'll have somethin' to do, won't he?" Logan said before he took a moment to rest his hand on Clint's shoulder and pull him into a tight bear hug. Just because he looked like he needed it.

Clint looked surprised for only a second before he hugged Logan back. Tightly. "I never had a good dad before, so ... so yeah," he whispered into the hug. "I'm glad you married Mom."

"You know I'll do my best by all of you, right?" Logan asked.

Clint nodded. "Yeah, I know. I know you'd do anything to keep us safe."

"And happy," Logan amended. "That's kind of a stickin' point for me when it comes to kids."

"Well, I think we're doing okay," Clint promised. "I like living at the school and the tower, I promise."

"Good," Logan said. "We'll try to keep things goin' they way they have — more or less — but we're gonna take a pretty good break from the group. If you decide to go back early, then you can."

Clint tipped his head to the side. "You know my mom doesn't want a baby for  _real_ , right?"

"Oh yeah," Logan said, nodding. "And I wouldn't think of pushin' her. That's not something you push on someone."

"Okay. Just so you know," Clint said before Jubilee called out to both of them to hurry up and come over for the toasts and dancing.

For K and Logan and the boys, the party was mostly for the benefit of their friends. They sat through the dinner, but once Logan and K got on the dance floor and got wrapped up in each other, it took some doing to get them  _apart_ again so they could do the garter and bouquet tosses.

Which was fun for the adults — who all cheered when Logan went under K's dress for the garter — but Clint looked bright red, and Barney looked like he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Though he did have to laugh when Logan beamed Steve right in the face with the garter.

And then, of course, Barney turned red when Kitty was the one to catch the bouquet and ended up dancing with a laughing Steve at everyone's insistence.

"You both look like strawberries," Clint giggled.

"Shut up, Clint," Barney grumbled.

"Don't worry," K called out to Barney. "You can dance with her after Cap."

"Mom!"

"I think she knows he's too old for her," Logan added. "Cap, that is."

"And the other one," Barney grumbled under his breath.

"Bound to happen," Jubilee said from over his shoulder.

Barney shook his head. "She's way too pretty for 'im," he grumbled.

"And too blonde, too, right?" she said, smirking at him.

Barney shrugged, though he had a smirk on too. "I think her type is more… red."

"The way I hear it, red is  _most_ people's preference," Jubilee said in a sigh, then shook her ponytails out. "Sad."

"Jealous of my good looks?" Barney teased.

"You wish. I'm adorable," Jubilee said, tipping her chin up.

"Not as amazing as me," Barney shot back, grinning wider.

"I'll let you think that because you're  _new_ , but you just wait until Wolvie takes you to Japan. You won't last a week. And your red hair will stick out like crazy."

"Well, yeah. I'm  _unique_ ," he shot back.

"Whatever, Barton," she said before she took a hold of his hand. "C'mon — try not to step on my toes, circus boy."

"Just try and keep up, fireworks chick," Barney laughed.

"Oh, and hey," Jubilee said once they were out on the floor. "Welcome to the family."

Barey paused and then smiled at that. "Right back atcha."

To Jubilee's disappointment, when the cake came around, Logan and K did  _not_ attack each other in the least, and it wasn't long after that before Logan was looking at Kurt as if to say 'NOW?'

Kurt let out a laugh at that — though he did put a hand on both of their shoulders. "Of course. Who am I to keep my best friend from his honeymoon?" he teased before he simply teleported them both to Logan's cabin — and brought the boys not long after that.

"Welcome to Alberta," Logan said once the boys got their bearings. "Couple of rooms off to the left. If you want privacy, you can each grab one. We'll be on the right. Otherwise … take a look around."

The boys glanced at each other and then grinned before they immediately broke into a race, laughing and hollering at each other the whole time as they ran through the house and called dibs on their rooms.


	14. The Family That Hunts Together...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Logan takes the boys out for their first ever deer hunt on Thanksgiving.

 

* * *

 

Logan's cabin was stocked with food as well as clothes for the boys that Jan had clearly designed just for them. So for the first few days, it was all about exploring — going out into the snow and building forts, snowmen, and snow angels.

Of course, it wasn't long before Logan simply went out to hunt, leaving the three of them in the little cabin tucked into the woods near the frozen lake. "So, what do you boys think?" K asked, wrapping one of Logan's flannels around herself a little tighter as she settled in with coffee. "Is this what you figured our first family vacation would be like?"

Barney shrugged. "Well, sorta," he admitted. "Seeing as I only see you guys when it's cold."

"He just wanted somewhere more private," K explained. "And seeing as no one  _knows_ where his place is …"

"I like it," Clint chimed in. "I like that it's just us. It's like how you and me were on our own for a while."

"It's kind of nice, isn't it?" K agreed with a little smile.

"Yeah. I really like having you to myself," Clint admitted — though he was quiet about it as he gave her a little hug.

"I like having you to myself too," she agreed. "Lots of people to play with at those other spots, but … this is better, I think."

Clint nodded and snuggled in a little better. "I do like playing with Rachel, though," he added quickly. "I don't wanna  _leave_."

"We were planning on staying through Logan's birthday," K said. "You just need to speak up, though, if you get tired of all this Canadian quiet and snow."

"Not yet, though," Clint said, grinning at his brother.

They spent a quiet morning after that playing in the snow and generally enjoying being with their  _brand new family_  — and that was the way things went for the first couple days, anyway.

It wasn't until the actual morning of Thanksgiving came around and the boys overheard Logan and K talking about getting a dinner ready that they really got to shake things up.

"I thought you were gonna let us shoot a deer for Thanksgiving," Barney said, his eyes wide as he turned toward Logan.

"You can go with me to hunt," Logan said. "But it's called hunting, not shooting. You'll be lucky if you get a clear shot — and if you can't, then I'll go handle it."

"We're pretty good shots," Clint pointed out. "I can hit anything with my bow!"

"That's not the point," Logan said, shaking his head lightly. "Hunting here is a little different than hunting at your mom's place or even in Westchester. The animals are more wary. Clever. If you stalk up close enough to be in range for your bow, you still might not get a clean shot." He gave him a little smirk. "But … you need to learn where to hit first anyhow."

"So you'll take us?" Barney asked.

"Sure," Logan agreed easily.

"Great! We'll get our bows," Barney said, already heading out to grab his — with Clint giggling and rushing to follow him soon after.

"You'll be lucky to see anything," K teased as the boys headed off to bundle up.

"Don't matter," Logan said. "They won't learn unless they give it a shot."

It wasn't long before the boys came back in their purple coats and hats, both of them grinning widely. "This is gonna be fun!" Clint laughed

Logan and K shared a glance. K smiled down into her coffee cup just before Logan got up to take the boys out — first taking a moment to show them how they needed to aim if they were going to take a shot and explaining what the best shot looked like. "Quartering away, make sure the front foot nearest you is takin' a step forward. That shoulder bone is tough; you can't always punch through it. Smarter to wait until the shot's clean," Logan explained.

The boys both nodded, still grinning. "What if it's not a clean shot, though?" Clint asked.

"Don't take it if you can help it," Logan said. "If it moves after you release and screws up the shot — if you wound it, I'll end it. No sense in lettin' one suffer."

"Good, that's what I was thinking," Clint said. "I don't wanna  _hurt_ nothin'."

"And if you boys don't want to, then I'll find one and bring it back. Not pushin' anyone to kill."

Clint and Barney shared a look. "We'd like to try," Barney said.

"At least see how it works," Clint agreed.

"Then let's get you movin'," Logan said, leading the way into the snowy woods. "Step in my footfalls if you can," he told them.

The boys grinned at that, and Barney couldn't help but say, "Even though you're shorter'n me?"

"If you think you can be as quiet as me, knock yourself out," Logan replied without missing a beat — and with no heat to his tone at all.

Clint snerked. "Gotcha there, Barn."

"Shut up, Clint."

Clint just grinned at his brother, shrugged, and turned to follow Logan — carefully walking in his footprints.

After a while, they found a trail: more than one set of prints moving together; all the same freshness, according to Logan. But the boys didn't pay much attention to the size of the prints when they were trying to keep quiet in Logan's steps. Finally, as they crested a hill, there was a small valley below them with several deer in the distance. The boys couldn't see one particular deer, and they were still moving through the trees, so Logan got them to spread out a little and keep an eye open for a clean shot while he crept around the far side of the valley to push the deer toward the boys.

Clint and Barney both worked as quietly as they could to get ready, but they were also clearly worried about making sure they did it right. They didn't want to hurt the deer and not kill it… and they couldn't figure out a way between them to line up the shot Logan had described.

When it was clear that neither of them were going to take a shot, Logan started to move toward the little herd — low, slow, and completely smooth and focused, clearly showing how much he belonged in the woods as he moved silently down the hill opposite Barney and Clint.

It was pretty obvious that he was going for the little doe almost straight ahead of him — but the boys could see what Logan couldn't: that the doe had a little pair of fawns with her. Still, Logan kept creeping closer, pausing at the right moments and waiting for the deer to relax before he moved forward again.

The boys were almost holding their breath, torn between wanting to see a hunt and  _not_ wanting a doe to get killed when she had two  _babies_.

Ultimately, they couldn't break out of their indecision enough to do any more than watch as Logan moved. He didn't blink as he moved closer, crouched low to the snowy ground, and when he finally got all the way up to the doe, he simply looked as if he was sitting on his haunches as he carefully reached out to the doe ... and then ran his hand over her shoulder.

The doe startled slightly and turned to face him, stretching out to sniff him as he continued to carefully stroke her coat, only interrupted when the two fawns nearly bounced over and got right up in his face to be friendly. Logan was sure to give both of them a pet too before one of the other deer finally stomped its feet and snorted. The sound was abnormally loud in the otherwise quiet forest — and it had all of the deer in the forest scrambling to get out of there, leaving Logan to sit down the rest of the way in the snow, his arm resting on his knee.

"Hunt's a bust, boys."

The boys came out of the trees with matching wide-eyed expressions as they moved to join Logan. "That was… wow," Barney breathed out.

"Yeah, she was so close to you!" Clint agreed, nodding fervently.

"I like to do that now and again," Logan admitted.

"That was so cool," Clint gushed. "You like moms 'n' kids for  _everyone_ , huh?"

"I don't like leavin' babies without their mothers," Logan said. "If that doe had died, all of them would be dead by the end of the week. They need her."

Barney nodded seriously. "Yeah. I'm glad we didn't shoot her."

"We'll find somethin' else," Logan said as he got to his feet. "But I think we're all cold enough for now."

Clint nodded at that, blowing on his hands for effect. "I'm turning into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!"

"Follow our prints back," Logan said. "I'll be right behind you."

The boys nodded in tandem and started to head back, though Clint paused. "What about dinner?"

"We've got stuff at the cabin," Logan said. "And if we come across some partridge on the way back ... nail 'em."

Clint grinned delightedly at that. "Now I'm gonna wanna do that," he said, searching the skies the whole way back with a crookedly delighted look on his face.

But it was Barney who found the partridge — and yelled when the bird exploded out of the woods like it was on a mission to scare the life out of him. Which was definitely enough of a giveaway for Clint to turn and find the bird and shoot it down with a whoop of triumph thrown into Barney's swearing.

"Good team," Logan chuckled as he headed over to pick up the bird and give Clint his arrow back. "Clean hit, too. Get a few more and we'll be set."

Clint grinned up at Logan, looking even more pleased than before. "See? Totally the best Thanksgiving hunting trip."

"If it was a moose, I'd agree," Logan said with a smirk.

"Maybe when I'm bigger," Clint giggled.

"Maybe," Logan agreed. "Lot meaner than deer."

"And bigger," Barney pointed out.

"Bigger's overrated," Logan said.

"You just say that 'cause you're shorter than me."

"And meaner."

"Sure. Tell that to the doe," Barney teased.

"Don't have to. The older doe told her for me," Logan replied. "I let all kindsa animals out of traps up here."

Clint grinned at that. "Sounds about right."

"If we find any decent tracks out here, you can try to tell me what they are," Logan said. "I know for a fact you won't get a couple of 'em."

"Well, not  _today_ if we ain't never seen 'em," Barney said. "Later maybe."

"Yeah, you're both on the edge of too cold," Logan said. "And I'm sure you wanna curl up by the fire."

"That would be real nice," Clint admitted.

"So … let's get you boys back," Logan said before he tipped his head to the side. "We can take a shortcut if you're cold. Just through this stand of trees and along the edge of the lake."

Both of the boys nodded eagerly. "Yes please."

The trek back still took almost an hour, and by the time they got back to see the cabin with the smoke curling up steadily from the chimney, both boys were ready to run right there. Of course, when they stepped in, K had lots of hot food ready for them — and some hot chocolate waiting to go. "Have fun hunting?" she asked as they stomped the snow off.

Clint nodded. "I shot a bird!"

"Was it asking for it?" K teased. "Was it coming right for you?"

"It scared Barney so bad I think he peed his pants."

"Did not!"

"Would have warmed you up for a minute," K laughed.

Barney rolled his eyes at both of them as he made a beeline for the fire. "Yeah, well, Logan pet a doe. That was pretty cool too."

"Oh, that little trick, huh?" K asked, shaking her head. "He's like that."

Clint grinned and ran over to hug K. "Can I have some cocoa?"

"Sure can," K said. "Get the cold clothes off first. Get into something cozy and come get it."

"Thanks, Mom!" Clint sang out — dashing up the stairs happily, with Barney not far behind him. After all, the promise of something warm was enough to get both of them running even if they were tired and cold.


	15. That's My Dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is fluff. Lots and lots of fluff.

 

Clint was tickled when he woke up to see that there was plenty of snow on the ground the morning of his birthday.  _Fresh_ snow, too — which was the perfect kind for playing.

He already knew that there would be pancakes for breakfast, because his mom always made sure that he got his favorite breakfast on his birthday, but he stayed in the bed with Arrow for a little while longer all the same, grinning to himself. He was nine years old now. And that meant he was that much closer to Steve and Scott letting him be a superhero.

He had actually already told Barney that, seeing as Barney would be thirteen next summer, Barney could probably be a hero real soon, but Barney didn't seem to be as interested as Clint was.

Clint figured that was probably because he liked being in the circus so much, but he also figured if  _Kitty_ asked Barney if he was thinking about joining the team, then Barney would join in a second flat.

Barney was weird that way.

Finally, Clint got out of bed and headed downstairs, following the amazing smell of breakfast to where K was already several pancakes into the batch. Barney was awake, too, and he'd just spread some raspberry jam on his.

"Morning," Clint called out.

K turned his way with a smile. "Happy birthday, Clint," she said, waving him over so he could get a plate full of pancakes. "Blackberries or raspberries?"

"Um, both is good."

She smirked. "Both is always good."

Clint nodded and climbed up into his seat, smiling when Logan came in from outside to shake off his boots and hang up his coat. "Hey, Mom made breakfast."

"Did she now?" Logan asked with a smirk as he slipped over to steal a kiss from K.

Clint grinned at that, happily munching on his breakfast and looking out over his family. This… was just about as perfect as he could ask for it to be.

Once they were done with breakfast, Barney and Clint ducked outside to do a little exploring and playing — though Clint had to admit that now that they'd been there for a couple weeks, Clint kind of wanted to head back.

But not until  _after_ his birthday.

It wasn't that he didn't want to spend all this time with his family, either. He really liked having K and Logan and Barney all to himself. He  _really_ liked getting away from Jan and Jean and how weird they were about weddings and stuff.

But he also missed all his friends. He missed Jubilee and Rachel and even Kitty — even if Barney was  _super_ weird around her. And he missed swordfighting with Kurt and playing with Thor and playing pranks on all the Avengers and X-Men with his mom and finding new stuff to read with Storm.

That was his family. His  _whole_ family.

Clint flopped back in the newly-fallen snow to make another snow angel and then stayed there for a little bit, grinning up at the sky. He wasn't even going to move, except Barney came and sat down beside him.

"That looks painful," Barney said.

Clint scrunched up his nose. "What are you talking about?"

"Thinking," Barney said. "You look like you're gonna hurt yourself."

"Hey!" Clint sat up fast and socked his big brother in the shoulder.

Barney grinned and danced out of the way of another hit. "Not my fault you're slow."

"Am not!"

"Then why can't you hit me?"

Clint let out a shout before he dove at Barney, tackling him into the snow. And just like that, the two of them were locked in a wrestling match, trying to shove snow down each other's shirts and jackets. Clint had better training from not only Logan and K but lots of other heroes… but Barney was bigger and had a few tricks from acrobats and Miranda that Clint just didn't know.

"You totally have to show me that move," Clint said when Barney managed to dodge one of Clint's moves and more or less leaned back far enough to grab Clint's ankle and topple him into the snow all over again.

"Only if you show me that flip you did," Barney said, grinning as the two of them got to their feet.

"Deal," Clint agreed.

Of course, by that point, both of the boys were starting to shiver a little. The snow had gotten into their clothes and boots from all the wrestling and shoving it in each other's face and down each other's backs, and there was enough of a cold wind that being that wet and cold  _and_ outside probably wasn't a good idea. So, they headed back to the cabin, still throwing little jabs at each other.

Clint somehow wasn't surprised to see that Logan and K were wrapped up in a long kiss when he and his brother got back. They were married now, so it wasn't like it was a secret that they were kissing all the time. But still, Clint felt like he couldn't let it slide, if for no other reason than that he knew his mom liked to tease just as much as he did.

"Ewww, I told you I don't want a Frances!" he called out.

K chuckled when she heard it and turned his way. "Is that the  _only_ stipulation?" she asked with a teasing smile.

Barney was shaking his head. "Yeah, no, you should definitely  _not_ saddle anyone else in our family with weird names. You're supposed to be the  _good_ parents."

K laughed and got up, just to ruffle Barney's hair as she passed him. "Don't worry," she said. "It's just a joke. We have  _no_ plans to do anything like that."

"Okay, good, because that would be  _cruel_ ," Barney said seriously.

K laughed again and then waved the boys over. "Logan made venison stew while you were out. This should warm you up."

"I love when Dad cooks!" Clint said, grinning as he quickly shed his wet coat and boots and rushed over.

K simply smiled at that — and looked over Clint's head to where Logan was watching the whole thing with a perfectly relaxed expression. He wasn't going to point out what Clint had said; he didn't want Clint to feel like he  _had_ to call him 'dad', and he definitely didn't want the kid to feel self-conscious about it.

But K had caught it, and she knew Logan had too. And she knew it was a big deal, especially because Clint hadn't even  _thought_ before he said it.

But that was also exactly why they weren't going to say anything. They didn't want to point it out to him and spook him.

The steam was still rising from the pot of stew in the kitchen, and the boys helped themselves to second helpings, animatedly telling Logan and K all about their plans for the next semester and how they were going to keep practicing with each other — "So Clint can get good enough to join the team," according to Barney.

K and Logan simply listened to the boys the whole time, nodding their encouragement even as the boys got carried away, already planning out who they were going to fight and how Clint was going to be the best of all the heroes when he grew up.

"And Barney will run the circus, and everyone will come from miles around to see it," Clint said. "And he'll totally get married to Ana."

"Shut up, Clint!" Barney said, turning bright red and matching his hair.

"You wanna get married to Kitty instead?" Clint teased.

"How come I'm the one that's gotta get married off so fast?" Barney complained.

"Um, because you're the one that's always tryna flirt with girls, duh," Clint said. "You don't see  _me_ losing my mind just because there's a pretty girl!"

"Not yet, anyway," Logan muttered low to K, who smirked and shook her head at him.

The boys argued for a little while longer over what it was they were going to do until K brought out the cake, along with a few presents from not only the little family but from the various heroes that had completely fallen in love with Clint.

A lot of it was about what you'd expect for a tiny little Hawkeye. Plenty of purple clothes, including some purple, super fluffy earmuffs from Jan — and, to Clint's surprise and delight, some new hearing aids, complete with purple arrow decorations, from Tony.

But when he opened up the little box from Logan and saw the pocket knife inside, his eyebrows shot up, and he turned on his heel to look at Logan. "Is this… is this like that knife I had before? The one you gave me for big and mean emergencies?"

Logan nodded. "Thought you'd like another one, seeing as you used the last one so well."

Clint stared at Logan for a second, then glanced back at the box in his hands. He slowly set it down… and then positively launched himself at Logan for a hug.

Logan caught Clint and then returned the hug tightly. "Hey, happy birthday, kiddo."

Clint held on tight. "I love you a lot," he said quietly. "I'm real glad you're my family now, okay?"

"Yeah, me too."

Clint grinned and then finally let go of Logan, taking a step back before he nodded to himself. "Okay. So. Cake, right?"

K smirked at him and ruffled his hair. "That's the plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long delay in posting. I had a personal tragedy that I'm still struggling to get past, and it hasn't been that great for writing. But I'm trying to get back to normal.
> 
> This is the last chapter of this volume of the tinyClint universe, but look for the next one soon (next week probably). It'll be called "The Other Tiny Hawkeye" so... place your bets what it's gonna be about ;)


End file.
